Next-Generation ISRThe next-generation airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and target identification system, known as the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS), will replace current ISR aircraft, including the U.S. Army’s Guardrail Common Sensor, the airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft and the U.S. Navy’s fleet of EP-3 aircraft. The work will be performed under a systems development and demonstration contract worth $879 million. A Lockheed Martin team will combine and enhance the capabilities of the current systems into a single ISR mission package on an Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft. The ERJ-145 is a Brazilian-made aircraft that is designed for high frequency use with low operating, crew training and maintenance costs. The ACS’ design will feature state-of-the-art sensor-computer integration to pinpoint threats in real time. It will provide instantaneous access to decision-quality intelligence from manned, unmanned and space-based ISR systems. The Lockheed Martin team, in addition to Embraer, includes Argon Engineering Associates, Fairfax, Virginia; BAE Systems, Farnborough, United Kingdom; General Dynamics, Falls Church, Virginia; Harris, Melbourne, Florida; L-3 Communications, New York; and Raytheon, Waltham, Massachusetts. Specifically, the team will deliver five certified, mission-ready airborne ISR systems. Initial testing is planned for 2006. A follow-on low-rate initial production contract will be awarded in 2007, and a full-rate production contract will be awarded in 2009. The contract has a potential value of more than $7 billion over the life of the 20-year program. The acquisition authority for the ACS is the Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
IT Infrastructure at STRATCOMSupport services for the information technology infrastructure of the U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, will be performed by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), El Segundo, California. CSC will provide all operations, maintenance, logistics, systems engineering, program management and procurement functions required to sustain the command’s infrastructure. Specific tasks include management and refresh of desktops, servers and networks. Over time, the company will evolve the infrastructure to a more common flexible architecture. The $525 million contract is for one base year and nine one-year options. Members of the CSC team include BAE Systems Mission Solutions Incorporated, San Diego, and Nebraska-based companies McCallie Associates Incorporated, CSSS.NET and All Native Systems.
Acquisition CompletedAnteon International Corporation, Fairfax, Virginia, has acquired Simulation Technologies Incorporated (STI), a privately held company that has expertise in three critical simulation areas: war gaming, soldier support systems and chemical/biological effects. Anteon intends to couple those capabilities with its own expertise in training, seaport security and first responder joint communications capabilities for added leverage to market to federal, state and local homeland security customers. Anteon acquired 100 percent of STI’s stock for $15 million. STI, established in 1988, has annual revenues of approximately $20 million and has a work force of 170. STI is located in San Antonio.
The Global Logistics PipelineAsset visibility is the objective of a $238 million U.S. Department of the Army contract for mobile computing and automatic identification systems and wireless networking technologies and services. The scope of the contract includes mobile computers, portable data collection terminals, barcode scanners, imagers and printers, wired and wireless communications systems and security software, barcode labels, technical engineering services, maintenance, training, system and device management solutions and implementation, warranty and technical assistance. Prime contractor Intermec Technologies Corporation, Everett, Washington, and Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Herndon, Virginia, will team on the five-year contract. Intermec will supply a complete line of advanced mobile computing, wireless communications and data collection systems and services. Northrop Grumman will provide implementation services.
Personnel Background ChecksBlanket purchase agreements for federal background investigation services have been awarded to five firms in a move to address the backlog in processing requests for personnel security clearances in federal agencies. The U.S. General Accounting Office reported in February that approximately 8,000 full-time field investigators will be needed to process the two million investigation requests that the Office of Personnel Management receives each year and to eliminate a backlog of between 300,000 and 500,000 cases. The four-year, multiple-award blanket purchase agreement provides for 50 percent payment in advance with the balance to be paid upon completion of the investigations. CACI-PTI, Fairfax, Virginia; Kroll Incorporated, New York; Mantech MSM Security Services Incorporated, Fairfax, Virginia; Omniplex World Services Corporation, Chantilly, Virginia; and Systems Applications and Technologies Incorporated will be performing the services.
Millennia Contract Task Order
Information technology support for NASA’s propulsion test programs at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Hancock County, Mississippi, will be provided by a team led by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), El Segundo, California. The Stennis Space Center is NASA’s primary location for testing and flight-certifying rocket propulsion systems for the space shuttle and future generations of space vehicles. The $93 million task order includes comprehensive program management and information technology support, including support for modeling, simulation and remote sensing activities. Teaming with CSC are Science and System Applications Incorporated, Lanham, Maryland; SaiTech, Fairfax, Virginia; and Sierra Lobo Incorporated, Fremont, Ohio.
Hidden Data RevealedThe U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is sponsoring research to create an automated process for detecting hidden information such as white-on-white text and images reduced to one-X-one pixels. The two-year contract for a file inspection application for the Microsoft Office suite will be developed by Dolphin Technology, San Jose, California. The $748,610 contract is a phase two award under the federal Small Business Innovative Research program, which funds early-stage research and development at small high technology companies. Dolphin will develop a software tool to assist in the inspection, detection and removal of various types of hidden data.
New Backup StrategyFacing cuts in personnel, the U.S. Coast Guard will manage critical data backups remotely. Software will remotely schedule and launch backups and restore all from a centralized location for the entire enterprise. Veritas Backup Exec will be used to support 38,000 users at 1,100 sites across the United States and worldwide as well as on Coast Guard cutters to perform tasks previously performed by a 24x7x365 staff. The software is made by Veritas Software Corporation, Mountain View, California.
Artificial IntelligenceA cognitive system that will be able to reason, learn from experience and adapt to surprise is the objective of a research initiative funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Arlington, Virginia. The five-year project, known as the Strategic Testbed Utility, will involve developing a new theory of dynamic gaming so that computers that play chess will be able to play DARPA chess with many players in games that have strategic and coalition-forming aspects. The technology is envisioned to improve automated reasoning in the area of logistics and greatly improve war gaming. The $9 million contract award went to SRI International, Menlo Park, California.
Bioinformatics ResourceAiming to centralize and integrate data on pathogens that pose significant public health threats and could be used as bio-terrorism agents, the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, is establishing a Web-based database to provide a single access point for the scientific research community. The comprehensive database, called BioHealthBase, initially will focus on six priority pathogens: the giardiasis parasite, the tuberculosis bacteria, the flu virus, the amoebiasis parasite, the microsporidia parasites and the castor bean plant. The database structure will enable the addition of other micro-organisms in the future. The contractor for the project, Northrop Grumman Information Technology, will provide tools for accessing genomic and related data necessary for the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. Teaming with Northrop Grumman on the $16.9 million project are the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; Vecna Technologies, College Park, Maryland; and AMAR–International Incorporated, Fairfax, Virginia. Northrop Grumman Information Technology is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.
Just a Glimpse of the Cost
The bills for operation Desert Storm are still coming. United Defense L.P., York, Pennsylvania, has received a $42.8 million increment as part of a $1.1 billion contract for the repair of 131 Bradley vehicles that were damaged in that 1990-1991 operation. The work is to be completed by January 2007. This is a sole source contract initiated this year by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Michigan.
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