Harris team will relocate Southern Command IT infrastructure

Harris Corp. will help the Defense Department relocate the Southern Command headquarters in Miami, under a $37 million ITES-2S task order.

Harris Corp. will help the Defense Department relocate the Southern Command headquarters in Miami.

Under the $37 million ITES-2S task order, Harris will work with Southcom personnel to move to a new headquarters complex beginning Oct. 1, 2010. The duration of the task order is 20 months with additional optional tasks that could add more than $18 million to the contract.

The Harris team, which includes Harris IT Services, Hewlett Packard Co., and IBM Corp., is responsible for the communications systems migration and consolidation of nine Southcom buildings into the new facility.

The team will provide support for information systems engineering and the design, furnishing, installation, testing and commissioning of the new Southcom headquarters’ Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Technology (C4I/IT) systems.

The task order covers integration of programs systems provided by external program managers, project management support data and C4I/IT infrastructure installation quality control inspections.

The contract also includes options for on-site training on new systems and designing and installing wireless network capabilities and a continuity-of-operations data recovery system.

The contractor will help identify, process and oversee the return of current C4I/IT equipment, as well as the purchase and installation of additional C4I/IT and video teleconferencing equipment.

Southcom HQ is a joint command composed of approximately 1,600 military, civilian and contractor personnel in its current nine-building complex. The command was located in the Panama Canal Zone until the Republic of Panama gained control of the interoceanic waterway in December 1999. It was then moved to the Miami area.

At the start of the transition to the new headquarters complex, Southcom HQ is expected to have 2,883 personnel.

Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 13 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.