Ports of Entry Systems ModernizeBorder inspectors, historically the first line of defense in identifying potential threats, will become the last line of defense, with the implementation of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program under a U.S. Department of Homeland Security contract potentially worth $10 billion. For that program, an Accenture-led alliance will develop and implement a new entry/exit system to be deployed at the nation’s more than 400 air, land and sea ports of entry. The US-VISIT system will provide the capability to record the entry and exit of non-U.S. citizens, to verify their identity, and confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies. The system will use digital finger scans and digital photographs at the ports of entry. Objectives for the program are to enhance security of U.S. citizens and visitors, expedite legitimate travel and trade, ensure integrity of the immigration system and safeguard the personal privacy of visitors and immigrants. Key members of the Accenture team for the contract include Raytheon, Titan Corporation and SRA International Incorporated. Accenture LLP is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Fleet Technical SupportU.S. Navy field services engineering work valued at more than $700 million will be performed by Anteon Corporation, Chesapeake, Virginia, and Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC, Reston, Virginia. The two contracts are for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and combat systems field service engineering support. Specific responsibilities include assessment and maintenance of shipboard systems and equipment; training in maintenance/overhaul processes; identification, compilation and production of measures of effectiveness, and other metrics as required; data analysis and reliability engineering; field service engineering; original equipment manufacturer/design agent technical support; and provide program support for various technical evolutions in support of the Fleet Technical Support Center Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia. The contracts are for a base year and nine one-year option periods. If all options are exercised, Anteon’s contract is valued at $348 million and the Raytheon Technical Services contract is worth $378 million. Seventy-five percent of the work will be performed in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. The Navy Fleet Industrial Supply Center in Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting agency.
Project-Scope Creep Keeps IRS Paying
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is moving forward with the program to modernize its taxpayer master files with the award of a $27 million task order to the project prime contractor, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), El Segundo, California. The task order involves modifying the agency’s Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) to accommodate new tax laws. CADE, the centerpiece of IRS modernization, will replace the IRS’ 35-year-old master-file systems containing all individual taxpayer account records. The IRS originally expected to move the first group of 1040 EZ tax filers to the new system in December of 2001. Delays caused that date to be pushed back to August 2003, but in July of 2003, the IRS learned that there would be an additional delay in CADE implementation, forcing the launch of the new system too close to the 2004 tax-filing season. As a result of the delays and cost overruns, the IRS renegotiated the cost-plus contract originally awarded to a CSC team in 1998 to a firm-fixed price contract, and the IRS Oversight Board initiated an independent review of the agency’s business systems modernization program. In December of 2003, the board published its findings and made specific recommendations addressing such problems as “continuous project scope creep”; lack of trust, confidence and teamwork between IRS business units and the prime contractor; and “a lack of thought and program leadership.” The board recommended “monitoring the prime contractor’s performance very closely” and advised that, “if significant improvements are not demonstrated quickly, a change should and must be made.” Paul Cofoni, president of CSC’s federal sector business unit, notes, “The IRS’ business system modernization program is, without a doubt, one of the largest, most complex and most visible modernization programs ever undertaken in the world.”
Military Medical Information System
The interoperability and integration of data from several existing U.S. Defense Department military health system software applications will make it possible to maintain and generate electronic medical records in theater under a variety of conditions. These records will be transportable electronically or manually with a patient to central Defense Department healthcare facilities, and consolidated data will be available to commanders in near real time through the Global Combat Support Systems. Known as the Theater Medical Information Program, the application development and integration project will be performed by Lockheed Martin Information Technology, Bethesda, Maryland, under a $47.8 million contract awarded under the National Institutes of Health Chief Information Officers Solutions and Partners–2 contract vehicle.
Aircraft Purchases
The Commonwealth of Australia has exercised options valued at $180 million to purchase two additional Boeing 737-700 aircraft for its Wedgetail airborne early warning and control program. The options are part of a contract awarded in 2000 for four 737-700 aircraft and six warning systems. The 737-700 has 21st century avionics, navigation equipment and flight deck and is one of the most reliable jet aircraft in the world. The 737’s warning system is equipped with Northrop Grumman’s multirole electronically scanned array antenna with integrated identification friend or foe capabilities. The system has an open architecture, an extensive communications suite, aerial refueling capability and an electronic warfare self-protection subsystem. Boeing will deliver the first two aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force in 2006 and will deliver the other four by 2008.
Connecting Researchers’ SupercomputersSeeking to meet the computational needs of scientists, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and National LambdaRail (NLR) have reached an agreement to collaborate on connecting the nation's laboratories via high-speed networks. NLR, a consortium of U.S. research universities and private technology companies, is building a nationwide infrastructure to be made available to the research community, while ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is developing technologies to allow high-speed switching and connections to supercomputers. Scientists need large amounts of dedicated bandwidth, but for short periods of time. Through this agreement NLR and ORNL will jointly participate in the creation of a nationwide network to support switching this sort of dedicated bandwidth between users on a time-sharing basis. ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy research facility managed by Battelle, and NLR is an initiative to provide a national scale infrastructure for research and experimentation in networking technologies and applications.
Threat Signature CharacterizationScientific and technical assistance to predict, measure, simulate and evaluate foreign missile systems will be provided under a $10.4 million contract awarded by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for its Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), Huntsville, Alabama. The DIA/MSIC manages and produces all-source technical and scientific intelligence on foreign missiles, missile defense systems, directed energy weapons, selected space programs and systems, and relevant command, control, communications and computer systems, and provides analysis of those systems to the U.S. Defense Department. Under the contract, a Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) team will address threat signature characterizations, including radio frequency, electro-optical, infrared, ultraviolet, visible, laser, acoustic, seismic, magnetic and electromagnetic emanations. The team includes Georgia Tech Research Institute of Atlanta; Kinetics Incorporated, Stevenson, Washington; and Dynetics, Sparta and Teledyne Solutions Incorporated, Huntsville, Alabama. SAIC is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
Enhanced Knowledge Management
Responding to the U.S. government’s need to capture and extract information and organize and expand it on the fly, In-Q-Tel has reached a technology development agreement with SRA International Incorporated, Fairfax, Virginia, to enhance the capabilities of the ORIONMagic knowledge management system. ORIONMagic organizes data into a hierarchical structure and enables users to conduct complex research, collect and analyze vast amounts of information, and collaborate, track and share information with team members. It is in use at many law enforcement organizations and U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. departments of Defense and Justice, and will be customized to meet additional needs of these government customers. In-Q-Tel is a private, independent enterprise funded by the Central Intelligence Agency to identify and invest in companies that are developing cutting-edge technologies that serve U.S. national security interests.
Request for Proposals
The U.S. Department of Energy has released the final request for proposals (RFP) for the management contract at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory West, collocated on 569,135 acres of desert near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The RFP focuses on plans to combine the two facilities, revitalize the laboratories and build a world-class nuclear research and development program. The combined entity, to be known as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), will lead the department’s efforts in developing an advanced nuclear energy system that will produce both inexpensive electric power and large quantities of cost-effective hydrogen to support a clean and efficient hydrogen economy in the United States. According to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, “This effort will represent a major leap in technology. If it proves successful, it will change how we think about nuclear power … and provide the United States with a practical path toward replacing imported oil with domestically produced, clean and economic hydrogen.” The contract period is a 10-year base term with an option for an additional five years. Contractor responsibilities include operating the INL, reducing the overhead cost of running the laboratory through greater efficiency, managing the revitalization of laboratory infrastructure, and ensuring the laboratory has the world-class scientific and technical talent necessary to sustain its mission. The new laboratory will begin operation on February 1, 2005.
To submit contract awards for consideration, contact
associate editor, 703-631-6159.
