Companies Tout Commercial Solutions, Technical Might

By Nick WakemanThe sheer size and diversity of Lockheed Martin Corp. almost assures the Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace and information technology giant its spot atop Washington Technology's annual Top 100 list.For the fifth year running, the company is No. 1 with nearly $2.4 billion in federal prime information technology contract obligations for fiscal year 1998. Lockheed Martin easily outpaced the No. 2 entry, United Space Alliance, which, oddly enough, is a joint venture between Lockheed and Boeing Co. of Seattle."For the federal part of our business, it was a very good year," said Arthur Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Information and Services Sector. Among its big wins were a $3.4 billion, 10-year contract to run space operations for NASA. The company also won some major recompetes and other contracts worth more than $100 million.Even a major disappointment ? the loss to rival Computer Sciences Corp. of the Internal Revenue Service's Prime Integration contract to modernize the agency's IT systems ? had a silver lining, Johnson said. It reinforced that Lockheed Martin must apply more commercial processes and methodologies to the government market."What CSC did better than us was to bring to bear more commercial methodologies and tools that the IRS found very attractive," Johnson said.Johnson's unit reported revenue of $5.2 billion in 1998, down from $6.4 billion in 1997. In 1998, 46 percent of his unit's business came from the Department of Defense. The rest came from federal civilian (27 percent), commercial (10 percent), international (11 percent) and state and local (6 percent).Johnson blamed most of the drop on divestitures in late 1997 and losses from commercial operations such as CalComp Technology Inc., which makes high-end printers. Lockheed Martin closed down CalComp in January."CalComp really weighed down the performance of that group," said Todd Ernst, an analyst with Prudential Securities in New York.The losses in the IT division contributed to a drop in Lockheed Martin's overall revenue from $28 billion in 1997 to $26.3 billion in 1998. But analysts said 1999 should be better, especially for the IT unit. The IT unit has suffered because Lockheed Martin has dumped too many divisions into it as the company acquired numerous companies, said analyst Paul Nisbet with JSA Research of Newport, R.I. Lockheed Martin has acquired about 17 companies, including Martin Marietta Corp. and Loral Corp."It seems like a category where they've put a lot of things they didn't know where else to put," he said.However, the company is making strides to sharpen its IT focus, Nisbet said. He expects the unit's revenue to drop to $4.7 billion as the company does more divestitures, but the moves will improve margins, which stand at about 6 percent for the IT unit."You should see a major margin boost this year," Ernst said. The crown jewel of Lockheed Martin's 1998 IT campaign was the Consolidated Space Operations Contract, a $3.4 billion, 10-year NASA contract it won in September.NASA rolled up 17 contracts into the CSOC contract, and Lockheed Martin is responsible for running mission and data services operations at five NASA centers. In addition to taking over current operations, Lockheed Martin is developing an "integrated operating architecture" for NASA, Johnson said. The architecture will be based on commercial technologies, especially Internet protocols."There were probably two or three key reasons why we won that contract," but the biggest is the company's operational experience with the space agency, Johnson said. NASA wanted its missions to continue to operate seamlessly while transitioning the contracts, he said. "We think we had an competitive advantage because of our experience."Lockheed Martin's team included AlliedSignal Inc. of Morristown, N.J., Booz-Allen Hamilton Inc. of McLean, Va., Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., GTE Corp. of Irving, Texas, and about 36 other subcontractors.The company also relied on past performance to win the Computing Environment Stratcom Architecture contract from the Air Force's Strategic Air Command. The $150 million, six-year contract covers command and control and integration services for the Strategic Air Command. The company leveraged past performance and internal investments to win the contract, Johnson said. Lockheed Martin already had been doing extensive work for the Air Force, migrating planning systems from old legacy systems to new systems using commercial products, he said. And because the company builds a lot of command and control systems, Lockheed Martin was working internally to make sure it could leverage what it was doing in one project to use it in another. On its own, the company was creating interoperable command and control systems, he said. Lockheed Martin calls it Project Rainbow. The company is investing research and development money to show how command and control systems can work together, he said.Lockheed Martin's efforts fit well with the Department of Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment initiative to create a uniform information technology architecture, Johnson said.Johnson said his sector does have strong commercial experience it will seek to leverage in the future. For example, in March, Lockheed Martin signed an outsourcing deal with shoe and sports apparel maker Nike of Beaverton, Ore. Lockheed Martin will run Nike's internal information technology systems. The value of the March 10 deal has not been disclosed, but 180 Nike employees will transfer to Lockheed Martin.The government has been asking for commercial products for the last several years, he said, but "now we are seeing more demand for commercial processes." This is particularly true as the government outsources more functions, he said.Clearly, the civilian agencies and Department of Defense are looking to see how to leverage commercial products and methodologies in the government, Johnson said. "We are going to see more of that in the future."6801 Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, Md. 20817 * www.lmco.com * $2,398,874,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Patrick SeitzUnited Space Alliance executives expect to hit $2.5 billion in annual sales by 2002, thanks to additions to a mammoth space shuttle operations contract awarded to the joint venture company two and a half years ago.The Houston-based company, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., and Boeing Co., Seattle, took in nearly $1.5 billion in revenue in 1998 from NASA. All of the joint venture's business is related to the shuttle operations contract, which was awarded by NASA in September 1996. The six-year contract, valued at $7 billion, contains options that would make it worth $12 billion over 10 years. Because of this NASA work, the alliance earned the No. 2 spot on Washington Technology's 1999 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors, the same rank as last year.While information technology plays a role in nearly everything the alliance does for the shuttle program, pure IT work accounts for about 25 percent of the alliance's overall revenue, said Russ Turner, president and chief executive officer of United Space Alliance."We do a wide range of IT work, from simple business systems to real-time flight software," said Turner, who took the reins of the company in June 1998 and previously served as vice president and general manager of Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power, a unit of Boeing.NASA already has awarded the alliance additional work because it met or exceeded safety and efficiency goals in the shuttle operations contract, Turner said. That work includes a flight software contract and two shuttle maintenance contracts let last July, Turner said. The flight software contract alone is worth $140 million over four and a half years.When United Space Alliance took over space shuttle operations in October 1996, it was responsible for about one-third of the dollars spent on the shuttle program, which then totaled about $3.2 billion. By 2001, its share will hit two-thirds, Turner said.The alliance agreed that NASA would see a "significant amount of savings" from turning over responsibility for its shuttle operations, Turner said. "From a financial perspective, we've exceeded expectations."The alliance estimates it will save the government nearly $1 billion by 2002, Turner said. And the alliance already has saved NASA $165 million beyond the $400 million in savings built into the original contract, he said. As prime contractor for NASA's space shuttle program, United Space Alliance is responsible for day-to-day operation and management of the shuttle fleet. Its tasks include mission design and planning; software development and integration; integrated logistics; vehicle processing, launch and recovery; flight operations; payload integration; and astronaut and flight controller training.The top priority for United Space Alliance is to maintain or improve the safety of operations for the nation's astronauts and shuttle maintenance crews, Turner said. The safety issue was a primary concern of government officials before the contract award. The company has allayed those fears with its record, said Jack Boykin, NASA's assistant manager for the space shuttle program and liaison with the United Space Alliance.Boykin credits the wording of NASA's contract with settling initial concerns over safety. The contract provides for award fees based on meeting performance and safety goals, he said.Boykin described NASA's Space Flight Operations contract with the United Space Alliance as a "very innovative concept," especially for its scale. He said the alliance was able to transition seamlessly more than a dozen separate contracts under one operation.In addition to safety, United Space Alliance is working to improve the reliability and performance of the shuttle orbiters. For example, the company has helped reduce shuttle processing times and launch delays, Turner said.The alliance can now accommodate the five-minute windows for shuttle launches carrying equipment for the International Space Station, Turner said. The space station, now under assembly in low Earth orbit, is scheduled for completion in 2004.Space station construction also has boosted the number of shuttle flights planned over the next few years. The flight rate will increase from five annual launches in 1998 and 1999 to eight or nine in 2000, he said.The United Space Alliance would like to conduct 15 launches a year, Turner said, but that would require upgrades to the shuttles. The alliance has invested $90 million in improvements to the fleet beyond the several hundred million dollars NASA spends annually to upgrade the orbiters.In June, NASA and the United Space Alliance are cosponsoring a two-day national conference in League City, Texas, to identify emerging technologies and concepts for next-generation improvements to the shuttles. United Space Alliance executives hope to parlay the company's shuttle work into other government space business, such as operating the International Space Station and the planned crew return vehicle that would be used to ferry astronauts back to Earth in an emergency.Also, the alliance wants to add commercial satellites as secondary payloads to future shuttle launches, but that would require a change in U.S. policy. The company is aiming for two such launches, one each in 2001 and 2002, Turner said. United Space Alliance, which employs about 9,000 at key NASA facilities in Alabama, California, Florida and Texas, plans to add 800 people in October when it absorbs an additional NASA contract, Turner said. Lockheed Martin and Boeing have worked to minimize job reductions as NASA turns to outsourcing and privatization of its operations, Turner said.When Lockheed Martin won the prime role in September 1998 on NASA's Consolidated Space Operations Contract, Lockheed Martin hired 350 of 500 government workers, and United Space Alliance hired the rest, Turner said. That 10-year pact, worth more than $3 billion, involves consolidating mission and data services operations at five NASA centers.1150 Gemini Ave. * Houston, Texas 77058 * www.unitedspacealliance.com * $1,480,308,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Richard McCafferyRaytheon Co. made great strides in 1998 integrating major acquisitions, consolidating operations and sharpening its focus on information technology, company officials said.The $9.5 billion purchase in December 1997 of Hughes Electronics Corp.'s defense business and the $3 billion purchase several months earlier of Texas Instruments Defense Systems & Electronics doubled Raytheon's size and boosted its revenue to $20 billion in 1998.It also heightened Raytheon Co.'s profile in the federal IT arena, because Hughes Information Systems, a federal systems integrator, was part of the Hughes purchase. Both Hughes Electronics and the Texas Instruments unit were folded into a division called Raytheon Systems Co., which was formed in December 1997. The bulk of Raytheon's IT business is handled by its Arlington, Va., systems group. "We had a great year," said William Swanson, Raytheon Systems chairman and chief executive. "Our strengths are clearly in technology, systems engineering and systems integration." Swanson's division makes up 75 percent of the company's overall business.Raytheon had several key IT wins in 1998. In May, it landed a $148 million contract to provide services for NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Under the five-year deal, Raytheon will offer software development, maintenance, systems engineering, network services and systems administration services."This award recognizes our company as a leading provider of information technology solutions and services," Phil LePore, a deputy general manager at Raytheon, said in a statement.Just last month, Raytheon landed a five-year, $15 million contract to provide the Air Force's Air Education and Training Command with IT training products and services, such as networking equipment, computer instruction and advisory services.Raytheon is one of at least five major integrators chasing the Air Force's Integrated Space Command and Control contract, an opportunity that could last 15 years and be worth more than $1 billion. The winner will be in charge of updating and integrating the Air Force's space-related IT systems. An award is expected early next year. The company also has entered a bid for the FBI's Information Sharing Initiative, a $432 million deal to provide the agency with computer systems, software, networking gear and support services. The contract should be issued in the first half of 1999.Raytheon was busy in 1998. It hired Daniel Burnham as chief executive, and Phil Graham, an information technology executive from Rockwell International Corp. of Costa Mesa, Calif., started in April. Graham is vice president and chief information officer of Raytheon Systems.In September, Raytheon bought AlliedSignal Communications Systems of Towson, Md., for an undisclosed sum. The unit, which reported revenue of $122 million in 1998, makes secure communications technology systems for the military as well as radar systems and tactical information products. It was part of AlliedSignal Inc. of Morristown, N.J., a technology and manufacturing company with 1998 sales of $15 billion. Raytheon nabbed Burnham from AlliedSignal. Burnham, who had been AlliedSignal's chief executive, replaced retiring executive Dennis Picard, who still serves as company chairman.Burnham stepped in quickly and escalated job cuts and consolidation, said Paul Nisbet, aerospace analyst at JSA Research Inc. of Newport, R.I. "It was a transition year, and I think they transitioned very well," he said. "They should complete the job this year." With the mergers complete, Raytheon Co. became the third largest aerospace and defense company in the United States. The company has not reported its 1998 revenue yet. But its government contracts jumped 42 percent, from $639 million in 1997 to $906 million in 1998, according to data compiled for the Top 100.Raytheon Systems had a little over $14 billion in 1998 revenue. The unit had $14 billion in revenue in 1997. It has five divisions: the defense systems segment in Tucson, Ariz.; the command, control, communications and information systems segment in Marlborough, Mass; the sensors and electronic systems division in El Segundo, Calif.; the training and services segment in Vienna, Va.; and the aircraft integration unit in Waco, Texas. Nisbet expects to see Raytheon's overall revenue grow up to 7 percent a year, and profit margins swell from 13 percent to 13.5 percent over the next five years. He expects Raytheon Systems to generate $15.6 billion in revenue in 1999 along with $2.25 billion in earnings.This may not sound like fast growth for an information technology company, but it is not too shabby for an enormous defense contractor swallowing two big companies, Nisbet said.Raytheon now builds everything from missile defense systems to oil refineries. It has four business units: Raytheon Systems Co., a commercial electronics division, the aircraft division and an engineering and construction unit.After the Hughes and Texas Instruments' acquisitions, Raytheon's ranks swelled to 120,000. The company started cutting back, and by December 1998, the number dipped to 108,000.So far, 9,700 positions have been cut at Raytheon Systems, and Burnham expects to cut another 4,300 by year's end, trimming ranks to 73,000.The extensive job cuts will reduce overlap and streamline operations, Nisbet said.More than half of Raytheon Systems' business is with the Defense Department. It has contracts with the Air Force, Army and Navy, the Federal Aviation Administration and the departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Justice.141 Spring St., Lexington, Mass. 02173 * www.raytheon.com * $906,129,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John MakulowichFlush from a host of mergers and acquisitions over the last year and the biggest corporate bond sale ever at $8 billion, AT&T Corp., alongside its competitors, is maneuvering through the deregulated telecommunications environs. The company, with 119,000 employees and more than 80 million customers, including consumer, business and government, recorded annual revenue in 1998 of just over $53 billion. It segments its results by primary line of business, that is, business services, consumer services and wireless services. A fourth segment, named other/corporate, includes the results of AT&T Solutions, Teleport Communications Group Inc., international operations and ventures and AT&T WorldNet services.Still the No. 1 long-distance telephone carrier in front of MCI WorldCom and Sprint, AT&T now is focusing on communications services, including wireless to more than 6 million customers, Internet to nearly a million, and both local and international phone services. Among its recent acquisitions to strengthen those services was the No. 2 cable company, Tele-Communications Inc., now known as AT&T Broadband & Internet Services. The $55 billion purchase gives the company access to 11 million cable customers and local phone service markets through cable. AT&T is also seeking to buy IBM's global data communications network for $5 billion. That network serves 35,000 companies in 100 countries and helps a million users in 59 countries access the Internet.In the public sector, AT&T provides products and services for defense and civilian agencies through contracts with the Defense Department and the General Services Administration. These include the FTS2000 extension and Defense Telecommunications Systems-CONUS (continental United States). The company also is competing to provide local and long distance service to federal customers through GSA's Metropolitan Area Acquisition contracts.Larry Spilman, vice president of AT&T Government Markets and leader of its professional services area, identified five key directions the company intends to pursue over the next year.The first is to continue to be an aggressive player in the federal market. According to Spilman, AT&T is committed to what it considers a very important market.The second direction is to bring to its customers the benefits of several strategic initiatives, including international relationships and those derived from recent mergers and acquisitions, such as TCI, IBM's global data networks and the Teleport Communications Group Inc. deal, which closed in July 1998 for $11 billion."We also plan to grow our professional services business, taking advantage of the thrust toward outsourcing and privatization," Spilman said. "We will port our commercial practices to the government market, where we see the possibility of double-digit growth."The fourth direction is to continue to grow in information assurance and critical infrastructure protection, areas already pinpointed by the federal government as top priorities. Spilman specifically mentioned e-commerce, assurance and integrity as targets of opportunity. The fifth and last direction is to meet the special needs of the government, such as the C4I community (command and control,communication and computers, intelligence) of the Defense Department.For example, AT&T Special Government C4ISR Services (command and control, communication and computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) offers solutions to meet domestic and global requirements for integrated communications systems. The team is located in Oakton, Va., has satellite offices in five states and a number of foreign countries, and is composed of more than 100 engineering and operations specialists.AT&T also targets government users who want to do business over the Internet with its WorldNet Managed Internet Service, available on the GSA schedule. WorldNet bills itself as a complete solution of Internet services and support, even allowing the use of the service through existing LAN-based environments.The DISN Transition Contract is another key deal from the Defense Department that highlights the directions AT&T is taking to position itself competitively for the high-speed data networking markets of the future.DTC offers data services in a variety of bandwidths as stand-alone, point-to-point channels or assembled to work together as subnetworks. The data transmission services are available globally over DTC. Another feature, Network Diversity and Avoidance, ensures uninterrupted transmission in the event of facility failures. Network design and management services are also offered for major bulk transmission of inventory needs for supplies, such as food, clothing, truck parts or payroll records and mapping.Seen by some as an essential component of the future defense network infrastructure, Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a developing, next-generation, fast-packet technology for transmitting multimedia: voice, data, video and graphics.Fast packet means the data is parsed into fixed-length segments, or cells, and relayed through the network by a series of switching nodes. Synchronous Optical Network is a global, high-speed transport standard that runs over fiber-optic cables. It supports new features such as network self-restoration while working with existing asynchronous systems and the newer ATM equipment.Also part of the DTC for the Defense Department is switched, reservation-based and satellite videoconferencing services. Videoconferencing continues to gain acceptance in federal agencies to supplement travel, and government users are offered a choice of three DTC video services.The reservation-based, dedicated videoconferencing network provides fully interactive videoconferencing for a flat, monthly fee without a usage charge with point-to-point or multipoint transmissions for secure and nonsecure video calling. Transmission rates range from 384 kilobits to 1.5 megabits per second.The second choice is low-bit rate video with roll-about or desktop videoconferencing. Here the transmission rates are from 112/128 to 384 kilobits per second, with rates based on usage.The third option is compressed digital video, which provides satellite-based, one-way video and two-way audio for broadcast quality videoconferencing. This could be used in teletraining and telebroadcast applications.Like many other IT companies, AT&T feels the continuing demand for IT professionals. AT&T Technical Services Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary created to provide high quality, cost effective technical and management professionals to support the outsourcing activities of AT&T's Government Markets business.AT&T Corp. * 32 Avenue of the Americas * New York, N.Y. 10013 * www.att.com * $834,978,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Nick WakemanThe Internal Revenue Service's Prime Integration contract is not the only star attraction on Computer Sciences Corp.'s highlight reel for 1998. In addition to the $8 billion, 15-year contract to modernize the IRS' tax systems, the El Segundo, Calif.-based company can tout other defense and civilian wins that made 1998 a year to remember.They include a $20 million, five-year National Security Agency outsourcing contract that could be a key to a larger, multibillion-dollar award. CSC also was one of the winners of NASA's Outsourcing Desktop Initiative contract, which could be worth $350 million to the company over nine years.CSC operates on a fiscal year that ended March 31. While the company has not released earnings for its fiscal 1999, company officials estimate revenue will be about $7.8 billion compared to $6.6 billion in 1998. Government business comprises about 25 percent of overall revenue.Milton Cooper is president of CSC's federal business, which is headquartered in Falls Church, Va., and has more than 16,000 employees. J. Patrick Ways, senior vice president of business development for CSC civilian business, said he expects the civilian business to hit about $670 million for the year ended March 31, a growth rate of 20 percent over 1998.The defense business should bring in over $1 billion and has been growing at better than 10 percent annually, said Austin Yerks, senior vice president of business development for CSC's defense business.The IRS contract, which CSC won in December 1998, is changing the way people look at the company, Ways said. That is because the project includes revamping the way the IRS conducts its business in addition to modernizing the agency's information technology systems."We looked at the IRS as a business problem rather than just a technical problem," he said. Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., was the losing bidder for the project.In the past, CSC had a good reputation as a systems integrator and software developer, but the IRS win is drawing more attention to the company's consulting and business re-engineering capabilities, Ways said. The win has raised "our stature in the community. The company is now being seen as a thought leader," he said.The project also comes with a high profile. Currently, CSC and its team, which includes IBM Corp., KPMG, Lucent Technologies, Northrop Grumman Corp., Science Applications International Corp. and Unisys Corp., are developing the strategic plan for the project. On June 30, that plan will be presented for approval to members of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that oversee the IRS.But other agencies also are watching. Ways said agencies such as the Customs Service and the Department of Education have asked for briefings on the IRS project and how the approach might apply to their own modernization efforts.If successful, the approach is sure to be emulated by other government agencies, said Linda Cohen, an analyst with the research firm Gartner Group of Stamford, Conn. "Strategically, this is a great win for that team," Cohen said when the contract was awarded. The companies on CSC's team want to be seen as innovators and on the cutting edge in the government market. "This is the kind of work they want to be known for in the government," she said.CSC also is on the cutting edge on the defense side of its business, especially with its August win of the National Security Agency outsourcing contract called Breakthrough, Yerks said. That contract was the first to include as part of the contract the transfer of employees from the government to the private sector.While valued at $20 million over five years, the contract also is significant because the NSA is looking at a potential $4 billion contract called Groundbreaker to outsource all of its IT services, Yerks said.CSC is one of several companies that are responding to a request for information for the Groundbreaker project, Yerks said. Other companies looking at the project are IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y.; Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas; AT&T of Basking Ridge, N.J.; Keane Inc. of Boston; and GTE Corp. of Irving, Texas.NSA is expected to whittle down the number of contenders so it only has to pick among two to three final bidders, Yerks said. A request for proposals likely will not be released until the end of 1999, and an award should be made in late summer of 2000.Ways credited a reorganization of CSC's federal business unit in 1998 as the big reason for the strong growth. "Before, we were organized around four divisions, and we were all competing with each other," he said.The company is now split into civilian and defense groups and along customer lines. Under the old organization, Ways ran the business development office for both civilian and defense markets, but "I spent half my time mitigating internal competitions," he said. Yerks joined the company in June 1998 to run development activities for the defense group. He had been senior vice president of business development and sales at Litton-PRC Inc. of McLean, Va.CSC needed to reorganize because of changes in the government's procurement environment, Ways said. "Procurements happen relatively quickly now," he said.The growth of business through General Service Administration schedules and other contract vehicles is evidence of a faster-moving federal market, Ways said. In 1998, CSC did about 30 percent of its government business through GSA vehicles. In three or four years, that figure likely will rise to 50 percent, he said.CSC is well-positioned as buying becomes more like that in the commercial sector, Yerks said. "We've got strong pipes into our commercial practices," he said. The government is going to have to use a more commercial approach for IT, and more outsourcing is inevitable, he said. That's because budgets are tight despite the surpluses, and the government is faced with personnel shortages, he said.2100 E. Grand Ave., El Segundo, Calif. 90245 * www.csc.com * $833,978,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Richard McCafferyA slew of new federal deals and successful bidding on new business under existing contracts helped Science Applications International Corp. surge to the sixth spot on Washington Technology's Top 100 list."We had a highly successful year in terms of the number of bids and wins," said Duane Andrews, SAIC's corporate executive vice president in charge of the San Diego company's federal business.Four companies in the top 10 from 1997's list of federal prime contractors fell from the upper ranks in 1998, many of them bypassed by speedy competitors or the subject of acquisition. "We're in the right place at the right time with the right set of skills," Andrews said.SAIC, the country's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, nearly doubled its revenue to $4.6 billion 1998. Its federal business grew by 10 percent to $2.3 billion and its Army, Navy and Air Force business grew 15 percent.The company also nabbed a spot on two potentially lucrative government efforts: the General Services Administration's $10 billion Seat Management deal and its $25 billion Applications and Support for Widely Diverse End User Requirements (Answer) contract."From everything I've seen, they're really on a hot streak," said Bob Dornan, senior vice president of Federal Sources Inc., a McLean, Va. research firm. "I just look across the street here, and see the cranes putting up their new buildings."Acquisitions are part of SAIC's overall growth strategy, and two companies in the Washington area are now potential targets, said Andrews. The company wants to round out its telecommunications and information technology capabilities. These skills would help the company compete as the government examines its communications networks, he said. SAIC is also focused on winning new bids for existing contracts, such as the Army Materiel Command's Omnibus 2000 contract, which is worth up to $1.75 billion and rolls 65 Army contracts into one package. SAIC is the incumbent on three of those existing contracts. "It's a must win for us," Andrews said. An award is expected in late 1999.Ninety percent of SAIC is owned by its 35,000 workers, which gives it a close-knit culture and an edge in recruiting and retaining workers, Andrews said. The company had some luck along those lines in 1998. In December, it hired Robert Blitzer, former chief of the FBI's domestic terrorism planning section, as associate director of SAIC's center for counterterrorism technology and analysis in McLean. Retaining employees was an area SAIC concentrated on in 1998 as it folded Telcordia Technologies, formerly Bellcore of Morristown, N.J., into its ranks, though the company is still located in New Jersey. SAIC wanted to lose as few of the company's 5,000 employees as possible, Andrews said. SAIC seems to have succeeded. Telcordia added more than 1,000 employees since the deal was finalized in November 1997, and plans to add another 1,000 this year. "I think what it translates to the customer is we have a more stable work force than a lot of companies," Andrews said.Telcordia, which makes communications software and offers engineering and professional services, operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. It chipped in $1.2 billion to SAIC's top line in 1998.That acquisition is a key part of SAIC's strategy to compete for telecommunications business, said Andrews, who pointed to upcoming projects in the federal government that will require contractors with telecom skills."The government is trying to decide how it's going to receive services in the future," Andrews said, noting the convergence of voice, video and data information onto a single network. Agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration are looking at revamping their entire communications network, Andrews said, and the FBI plans to issue a $25 million contract perhaps late this year to acquire a digital wireless communications system.With the purchase of Telcordia, SAIC has seven core areas: information technology, research and technology, telecommunications, transportation, energy, environment and health care. The company competes against the biggest players in the federal space, including Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md.; Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas; and IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y. More than half of its federal work is with the Department of Defense. Customers include the Coast Guard, Navy and the Department of Energy.New contracts for SAIC include a $400 million project at the Immigration and Naturalization Service as part of the agency's Service Technology Alliance Resources program. Under the contract, SAIC and its partners will help manage, integrate and maintain all INS systems in 90 offices worldwide for 29,000 employees. The contract could be worth up to $1.2 billion over five years.It is the first contract issued under the Stars program and the company's first major win at the INS, Andrews said. New agency business is critical because no agency's budget is expanding, he said. "When you're growing in the federal marketplace, you're capturing market share," he said.SAIC also won a few recompete contests for existing contracts. For example, it won a $700 million recompete award in April 1998 to provide health care information services to the U.S. Military Health Services system. SAIC teamed with 26 subcontractors to win the contract, which has a total value of $1.3 billion.Dornan said the General Accounting Office issued a glowing report several years ago on the work SAIC had done for the health services system. "With those kind of past performance credentials, you can overcome a lot of tough spots," he said.10260 Campus Point Drive, San Diego, Calif. 92121 * www.saic.com * $780,502,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich Unisys, headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa., and employing more than 33,000, offers federal agencies and customers in 100 countries services such as systems integration, outsourcing, application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management and multivendor maintenance and support. It also provides enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, software and storage. In 1998, the company reported annual revenue of $7.2 billion. It won prime contracts worth $754 million in 1998 for information technology services in the federal sector, according to data used to compile Washington Technology's Top 100 list.The company prides itself on having served the federal market for more than four decades with IT services, solutions and outsourcing and fast-cycle, value-added, high-volume technology products. Ed Hogan, vice president of marketing, said that many in the IT community, including federal staff and the channel, still view the firm as an "old hardware company. But right now we are concentrating on the dramatic growth in [indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity] work and continuing to shift our emphasis as services and solution providers," he said. "In fact, 75 percent of our federal revenues are from services and solutions."Hogan said part of that shift involves looking for as many new contract vehicles as possible."Our view," he said, "is that we need to have the correct number and type of vehicle so federal customers are not restricted in their choices. Our attitude is that we do everything from sell PC monitors over the Internet to help repair [NASA's] Hubble space telescope."Three recent awards serve as evidence of Unisys' dramatic growth in federal contracts. In January, it won two IT services contracts from the Transportation Department with a potential value of $200 million. Under the IT Omnibus Procurement (ITOP) II contracts, Unisys provides a full range of information engineering and support services, such as application development, seat management, Web site development and e-commerce support.ITOP II is a follow-on to the ITOP contract awarded in 1996 and a seven-year, multibillion-dollar, multiple-award, IDIQ contract available to all federal agencies. It has several new features, including unlimited hardware content and no dollar limitations on task orders.Two other awards in the last year were from the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Census Bureau. From DISA, Unisys was awarded contracts worth $165 million for 24 ClearPath enterprise servers together with operating system software and 10 EMC 5700 Symmetrix disk storage subsystems. The equipment will be used at the consolidated DISA defense megacenters in Montgomery, Ala.; Ogden, Utah; Oklahoma City and San Antonio. They support key Defense Department functions, including logistics, personnel and finance.The ClearPath Enterprise Servers replace about 70 legacy systems. The ClearPath HMP IX server has a processing complex that includes Intel Pentium and Custom Enterprise processors. This allows users to run legacy software as well as Microsoft Windows NT and Unix operating systems. The EMC Symmetrix 5700s, with about 7 terabytes of storage, will offer full data redundancy through disk mirroring. The Census Bureau contract, a single-award IDIQ, is worth $50 million and calls for Unisys to create the automation infrastructure for the local census offices program. That involves creating 450 to 520 temporary, local field offices to support the year 2000 census.The company will install hardware and software and provide integration and maintenance services for all local offices under the two-year contract. Using leased hardware and software, Unisys will integrate the systems and connect each LAN to one of 12 regional census centers, which manage the field operations.One analyst who likes what he sees in Unisys is James Kissane, managing director at Bear Stearns. In a research report issued in early February, he observed that Unisys is in the midst of a major, successful turnaround and transformation."Solid top-line growth coupled with margin expansion and de-leveraging should enable Unisys to achieve earnings growth of 25 percent (plus) for the next several years," wrote Kissane.He noted the three businesses of Unisys — Computer Systems (33 percent of revenue), Information Services (35 percent) and Global Customer Services (32 percent) — on a combined basis have the potential to achieve revenue growth in the high-single, low-double digits."Between 1991 and 1997, Unisys revenue languished (1991 revenue: $6.9 billion; 1997 revenue: $6.6 billion). In 1998, revenue increased by 8.6 percent to $7.2 billion. As the faster growing, more predictable services businesses account for a more significant portion of Unisys total revenue, we expect the company's top-line growth to accelerate," wrote Kissane.Beyond the contracts and analyst comments and awareness of the need to develop strategy for the changing market space, Hogan noted two key trends in the federal arena: outsourcing and seat management. The reasons he gives for the continuing interest and use of outsourcing include the need for specific skills by federal managers, the issue of managing budgets in a time of cost reduction and the desire for agencies to focus more on their mission than the supporting infrastructure.The other trend, seat management, is really an adjunct to outsourcing, what might be referred to as desktop outsourcing."Seat management impacts the individual government employee the most, since it involves management and cost decisions directly affecting staff. Right now, it has the most activity. It definitely is an in-vogue thing to discuss vs. actually doing it," said Hogan.Beyond the discussion of the merits of seat management, Hogan said one of the most critical points is the service level agreement. "Management and staff must understand up front what they are getting. And the contractor must understand their responsibilities," he said.Still, said Hogan, what the "Big S, Big M" amounts to is outsourcing every function. But the definition of seat management remains fuzzy. For some, it means supplying hardware and software; for others, it is responsibility for the network or call center. For others still, it may be a laundry list of tasks."It is important to understand what seat management means to the individual managing the contract. For us, true seat management means you are totally responsible for that asset," Hogan said. "Seat management is a category of which there are numerous subcategories."Township Line & Union Meeting Roads, P.O. Box 500, Blue Bell, Pa. 19424 www.unisys.com * $754,361,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich Seattle-based Boeing Co.'s focus in the federal information technology arena in the coming years will center on information assurance and logistics, a top company official said."We plan on getting into [enterprise resource planning] and to focus on logistics and product support, areas we have fine-tuned in building aircraft," said William Delany, president of Boeing Information Services, Vienna, Va., and a company vice president."We are now in the process of bidding on government work to do just that," said Delany, whose unit is responsible for information and telecommunication services to government and commercial customers. The world's leading maker of commercial jet aircraft reported overall revenue of $56.2 billion in 1998, nearly a 23 percent increase from $45.8 billion in 1997. The company had revenue of $22.7 billion in 1996.With 220,000 employees in more than 60 countries and operations in 27 states, Boeing became the No. 1 aerospace company in 1997 when it merged with McDonnell Douglas, the world's top military aircraft maker. That merger came on the heels of the acquisition in 1996 of the defense and space units of Rockwell International.On the government side, Boeing enjoys recognition as the nation's largest NASA contractor. Clearly, its future is linked to spaceflight and exploration and to increasing commercial applications in space. The company leads the U.S. industry team for the International Space Station, prepares the space shuttle's payloads and performs integration for the overall shuttle system.The company's IT subsidiary is part of the Shared Services, one of Boeing's four major business segments. Its services include computing resources, telecommunications, information management and basic support such as security, transportation and facilities.Boeing Information Services designs, develops, implements, operates and maintains large, complex, integrated information and telecommunications systems using hardware, software and services from different vendors.From Delany's point of view, the two major federal market opportunities for industry now are information assurance and logistics. That will be his organization's focus for the next three to five years.Information assurance will experience geometric growth over the next three to five years, and government and commercial customers have a dire need for a suite of systems that can apply commercial best practices for product support, he said."The federal government has been a leader in [World Wide] Web technology and has capitalized on that. But this new productivity tool brings both opportunities and problems. The opportunity side is information assurance," said Delany.While the information revolution is turning our whole world around, security is becoming a critical issue, he said. In the past, one could treat the challenging issues of security by parsing data into separate "buckets," such as confidential, secret and top secret. Now, nearly everything needs to be secured. That is an opportunity he intends to exploit."As an example, we want to replace the passive password technique of securing systems with a fingerprint technology tied to computers that is proactive. With this new fingerprint technology and the Internet, you are aware anytime someone makes a penetration," Delany said. "The whole information assurance industry at this stage is where the Internet was two to three years ago."Beyond information securing and protection, there is a related area of what he calls information engineering. This amounts to making the data valuable by using knowledge-based tools to build data warehouses, for instance.Another key opportunity is logistics. According to Delany, the federal government now spends more than 60 percent on logistics or product support. "The government is effective in product support. They can carry on a war better than anyone else. But they do that by spending a lot of money," Delany said. "We want to help reduce those costs by taking the best practices we use in building commercial aircraft and applying them to this problem." Two key federal contracts Delany used to highlight his views are the Reserve Component Automation System and NASA headquarters' Information Resources and Management Support.The RCAS is an automated information system that gives the Army the ability to administer, manage and more effectively mobilize the National Guard and Reserves. The system exploits a distributed computing architecture deployed throughout the continental United States and around the world. Installations include Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Europe and the Pacific Rim. With full deployment in 2003, RCAS will link more than 10,000 National Guard and Reserve units at more than 4,000 sites. More than 55,000 workstations and 2,000 servers make up this program.RCAS is to provide the Army Reserve and National Guard with essential data processing capabilities that span office automation, e-mail and mission support. The first two are supplied by integrating industry standard commercial, off-the-shelf hardware and software products. The design uses Microsoft Windows NT server and NT workstation on Compaq hardware platforms. The mission support is provided by adapting government off-the-shelf products, developing RCAS-specific applications and interfacing external government systems.The NASA IR&MS contract provides Federal Information Processing resources to NASA headquarters to support operations and agency missions and programs. The contract consolidates FIP resources support tasks and activities previously performed under 24 contracts. Over the last year, Boeing Information Services deployed the information assurance architecture at NASA headquarters, one of the agency's most comprehensive architectures. It consists of a firewall system, strongly authenticated remote access, secure e-mail, intrusion detection and security vulnerability scanning. NASA has adopted the headquarters' firewall design as the agencywide firewall architecture.The Boeing subsidiary, which has been on the block for several months, continues research and development in areas such as secure remote administration, vulnerability assessment, intra-agency secure communications and application integration.7755 E. Marginal Way South * Seattle, Wash. 98108 * www.boeing.com * $690,417,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich The ACS Government Solutions Group Inc., known as Computer Data Systems Inc. before its merger in late 1997, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Affiliated Computer Services Inc., Dallas, a national provider of IT solutions to commercial, financial and government markets. Since its start in 1988, ACS has grown dramatically by acquiring more than 40 companies.The parent company employs nearly 14,000 and generated revenue of $1.189 billion in fiscal 1998 compared with $929 million in fiscal 1997 (July-June). The ACS Government Solutions Group staff has 4,100 IT professionals; the subsidiary accounted for about one-third of corporate revenue.ACS segments its IT services into four groups: technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing, professional services and systems integration, and electronic commerce.Started in 1968, ACS Government Solutions Group is the division that targets the federal marketplace with 34 offices nationwide and offers systems integration, communications, business process redesign, custom software development and value-added processing. It is organized into two companies, Information Technology Solutions and Business Applications Solutions, and positions itself as a major competitor for large government IT outsourcing contracts.ACS Government Solutions Group acquired Analytical Systems Engineering Corp. in June 1997. Betac Corp. is a second wholly owned subsidiary of ACS Government Solutions, specializing in technical services and technologies worldwide to government and industry.ACS Government Solutions Group and ACS consider their skills complementary in the IT outsourcing industry. ACS enjoys technology outsourcing strengths, while the Government Solutions Group relies on its professional services and systems integration skills, Defense Department and intelligence experience and credentials in business processing outsourcing. The Government Solutions Group also adds a history with government customers, large systems integration and expertise in platform management.William Woodard, the government group's chief operating officer and president of Information Technology Solutions, said the company does about $550 million in federal business. Its approach is to apply its commercial strengths to the government marketplace and work with other units within ACS to win contracts.One win cited by Woodard, the Senate Desktop Award, demonstrates how commercial and federal best practices come together. He considers this approach a discriminator for Government Solutions Group as well as a competitive edge. "We call this our job with 100 CEOs. It demands high-level service," he said. "The Senate and staff give one the feeling of a trading-floor environment."Won last March and valued at $50 million over five years, the contract involves providing desktop technology outsourcing services to the Senate. Serving as prime contractor, Government Solutions Group provides end-to-end support for more than 10,000 desktops. The company also procures workstations and server hardware and software and performs installation, integration, help desk services, upgrades and on-site maintenance to 160 Senate offices in Washington and 427 offices throughout the states.Responding to requests that range from repairing a broken printer to installing a software patch demands that the company apply commercial best practices. Given the status of senators, the daily demands could soften the will of even the most ardent quality control fanatic. Woodard said the Government Solutions Group won the contract by teaming with the ACS commercial division.In fact, the successful partnership of two ACS companies was the first marketing test of the company's strategic business development plan, which is intended to create synergism inside the corporation. "This contract evolves our desktop practice. Currently, we support about 100,000 desktops for such users as U.S. Postal Service, Federal Depository Insurance Corp., the Air Force and the Senate," he said. "It involves us in an area where we can provide the level of service and support demanded, that is, desktop management and customer service."Another example of the corporate strategy is the company's $87 million GSA Public Buildings Service Systems Development Center contract it won just last January, a blanket purchase agreement with an initial term of one year with four one-year options.The contract calls for the implementation and operation of a systems development center to deliver high-quality information systems to PBS IT customers at the national offices in Washington, and regional offices nationwide. ACS Government Solutions Group is responsible for implementing a systems engineering environment capable of yielding consistent, repeatable, predictable and successful IT project results.The PBS is responsible for the construction, management, maintenance and improvement of buildings, both federally owned and leased, where accommodations are provided for government activities. The PBS manages the federal government's real property inventory.The team performing the contract is made up of more than 100 IT professionals from several partnering companies.What was important about the contract, for Woodard, was the opportunity to serve a specific customer who had specific requirements that the company could pinpoint with specific strengths.One industry observer who sees promise in the prospects for the company is R. J. Grossman, director of Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin, a national investment banking company in McLean, Va. "Based upon 1998 results and 1999 expectation, the Government Solutions Group, including the $50 million revenue Betac acquisition, is expected to achieve 25 to 30 percent compounded annual revenue growth, up from 10 percent historically," Grossman said. At $500 million plus in revenue, he said, "the Government Solutions Group can more effectively compete for the major government information technology outsourcing opportunities which are emerging."2828 N. Haskell Ave., Dallas, Texas 75204 * www.acs-inc.com * $652,812,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John MakulowichWith the former BDM International Inc. completely integrated into the fabric of the parent company and a significant number of new federal contract wins, TRW Inc. has firmly entered the information technology market.While still best known for supplying advanced technology products and services to the automotive, space and defense industries, including spacecraft, satellite technology and communications equipment, the Cleveland-based company is refining its IT focus with computer systems for public and private sector customers.Alongside its space and defense sales to the Department of Defense and NASA are worldwide commercial and government IT services on large-scale, technically complex projects that demand different levels of government clearance.Overall, TRW, with 79,000 employees, generated revenue in 1998 of $11.9 billion vs. $10.8 billion in 1997 and $9.9 billion in 1996.For Philip Odeen, executive vice president and general manager of TRW Systems & Information Technology Group, the federal marketplace holds great opportunities, especially in outsourcing. The functions of his group include delivering value-added solutions through IT systems and services; systems engineering and analysis; systems development and integration; scientific, engineering and technical services; and enterprise management services."The biggest opportunity right now is outsourcing, the willingness and strong interest of the federal government to take advantage of skill sets in private industry to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. This area is driving the growth of our federal business," said Odeen.A prime example for Odeen is the $77 million contract awarded in October 1998 by the U.S. Strategic Command. It called for TRW to perform a large computer support and software development contract for the outsourcing of about 350 military and civilian positions within the command. TRW took over computer support functions that were done by military, civil service employees and about 100 contracted employees. Completion of the transition to TRW is expected by June.Two interesting aspects of that contract were the requirement that TRW give affected government employees the right of first refusal for employment openings for which they were qualified, and competition under Office and Management and Budget circular A-76. In the latter, TRW competed for the contract and won against a federal government team.Odeen agreed there is controversy surrounding A-76 competitions, about the validity of government costs and how they are calculated. However, he feels the costs are fairly complete and the requirements reasonable. He figures the government wins about 10 percent of the time, where the private sector competitor must come in 10 percent lower to get the A-76 contract.Another instance cited by Odeen is the contract with the U.S Census Bureau. Won early last year, the deal calls for TRW to manage the so-called Data Capture Services Contract, a three-year, cost-plus award fee contract valued at more than $187 million. It was the first time the Census Bureau outsourced a decennial census using state-of-the-art imaging technology.In May 1998, the Census Bureau accepted TRW's recommendations of Phoenix, Pomona, Calif., and Baltimore as locations for data capture processing centers. Nearly 2,000 temporary workers will be hired in each city. Census 2000 questionnaires will be gathered and processed at these sites, with TRW serving as the prime systems integrator.Starting in March 2000, the centers are expected to process about 1 billion pages of census questionnaires in just 99 work days. The questionnaires will be mailed to more than 100 million addresses throughout the nation.An interesting aspect of the contract is the planned use of small disadvantaged and women and minority-owned businesses. TRW intends to assure a diverse work force by partnering with welfare-to-work programs, Job Corps centers, Youth Works programs and state employment agencies. The jobs will cover office administration, mail handling, sorting and scanning operations and data entry.Odeen said a major problem will be finding qualified people for the short-term assignments. The contract calls for about 9,000 people, with the majority hired for only 90 days. Odeen is looking to recruit retired military noncommissioned officers, such as former sergeants, to perform administrative and logistic tasks.Yet a third example cited by Odeen was the award last May by the Military Traffic Management Command to implement the new Defense Travel System. Under the contract, valued at $263.7 million over eight years, TRW will deploy a worldwide information system to provide paperless travel management services, including data on flights, rental cars and hotels. Users will be able to electronically map their itinerary and receive alerts about policy exceptions and preferred providers.In this contract, the Department of Defense "will outsource routine travel to us. We just completed the initial test of the system and are set to go live within the next 30 days. Our role will be to manage the whole travel function, from the initial decision to make the trip all the way through payback by electronic transfer of funds. The system [DTS] is expected to save at least 30 percent annually in travel management," said Odeen.In noting that DTS is a key infrastructure improvement program that will yield significant savings to the government, Odeen said the Defense Department now spends about $3 billion annually on travel. An estimated 15 percent to 30 percent is spent on travel management, such as authorization, reservations and claims processing.Under the new DTS paperless system, users will access commercial, off-the-shelf software through a workstation to produce the travel order, get it approved and make the reservation. Upon return, the traveler will have the voucher filed through the information system and routed through the network for authorization. A check will be sent electronically from the Defense Finance and Accounting System to the traveler's bank account.Said Odeen: "This will be the first large-scale use of the electronic signature process in the federal government, for example, to confirm reservations."1900 Richmond Road * Cleveland, Ohio 44124 * www.trw.com * $619,943,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Ed McKennaNorthrop Grumman's information technology unit, Logicon Inc., has been given marching orders from the top to boost revenue to $2 billion by 2004.To reach that goal, laid out by Northrop president and chief executive Kent Kresa in July 1998, the $1.1 billion IT unit is pursuing new business from state and local governments and civilian federal agencies to supplement its substantial defense-related work.Herb Anderson, president of Herndon, Va.- based Logicon Inc., with more than 10,000 employees in 15 cities, has said that Northrop Grumman also is exploring acquisitions as a way to fuel revenue growth.Department of Defense business accounted for about 65 percent of the company's IT sales in 1998, said Steve Carrier, vice president of business development for Northrop's Logicon unit. Executives at Northrop Grumman spent much of 1998 sorting out issues stemming from the company's failed merger with Lockheed Martin Corp., which was dropped last July. The company took immediate steps to energize its operations by consolidating its major information technology assets — the Data Systems and Services Division and its Logicon subsidiary — into a single organization.Operating under the Logicon name "gives us a tremendous mass to bid on a lot of things that we may not have been able to before," said Carrier.The company's biggest splash in the federal civil arena in 1998 was to capture a key role on the Internal Revenue Service's Prime Integration Services contract. As part of the winning team, led by Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif., the company expects to share in the $8 billion in revenue to be generated over the life of the contract. Awarded in December 1998, the contract is scheduled to run over 15 years.The contract expands its presence at the agency, where it already has earned some $200 million for imaging 1040EZ forms under the Service Center Recognition/Imaging Processing System program. Awarded in 1994, that contract is slated to run through 2002. Eventually, the contract may be folded into the IRS prime contract, said Carrier.More recently, the company won a contract from the General Services Administration for its Applications and Support for Widely Diverse End User Requirements (Answer) program. That award was made in January.The company already has received two task orders worth about $60 million off the Answer contract, which is scheduled to last 10 years and is potentially worth $1 billion to Northrop. Answer is a multiple-award, IDIQ contract awarded by the GSA's Federal Technology Service covering a range of IT services from systems analysis to installation and integration.Logicon also was selected in January to continue as a prime contractor for the Department of Transportation's Information Technology Omnibus Procurement II program. The earlier Transportation Department effort was "a high-value program" for the company, said Bob Koch, director of communications for Logicon. Northrop won a $30 million project in 1997 off the early ITOP contract to provide IT services for 2,200 end users in the executive office of the president, he said. While it is seeking more federal work at civilian agencies, Northrop Grumman will continue to pursue defense-related business. Last summer, for example, it landed the Joint Base Operations Support Contract for NASA and the Air Force. Potentially worth more than $2 billion over 10 years, the contract calls on Logicon to do "everything from running computer data centers to doing the actual facilities management" at Kennedy Space Center and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.The company also will continue to play a role in the Defense/Systems Integration, Design, Development, Operation, Maintenance and Support program for the Defense Department's Health Affairs Office. However, after having the Lot II contract to itself for several years, a rebid last year means it will have to split the work with SRA International Inc., Fairfax, Va., and Sherikon Inc., Chantilly, Va.In addition, several existing contracts provide the company with a solid Defense Department foundation.Looking ahead, Logicon is battling with Marconi North America Inc., Wayne, N.J., for the Joint Mission Planning System, which will consolidate the Air Force and Navy aircraft mission planning systems, said Carrier. 1840 Century Park East * Los Angeles, Calif. 90067 * www.northgrum.com * $561,371,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Steve LeSueurEven as GTE Corp. plots the sale of its Government Systems unit, that subsidiary is continuing to hone its specialty: selling telecommunications and information services to the Defense Department."Our goal is to maintain a strong market position in defense telecommunications and intelligence," said Thomas Muldoon, president of GTE Government Systems, Needham, Mass. Muldoon estimated that 70 percent of his unit's revenue comes from defense-related work. The unit posted sales of $1.4 billion in 1998, roughly 5 percent of GTE's $25.5 billion in revenue for the year.Although its parent, GTE Corp., Irving, Texas, announced its intent in January to sell the Government Systems unit by the third quarter of 1999, Muldoon has not seen a drop-off in business or an exodus of its employees. "We expect to grow at about 8 percent to 10 percent a year, just like we always have," he said.The planned sale is part of GTE's strategy to concentrate its resources on commercial telecommunications services, said Robert Wilkes, a telecommunications analyst with Brown Brothers Harriman and Co., New York. "GTE is trying to tighten its focus on its core business," he said.GTE also is planning to merge with Bell Atlantic Corp., New York, but company officials said this is unrelated to the sale of the government unit. GTE Government Systems provides telecommunications, information and intelligence systems to the Defense Department, as well as systems and network integration and tactical and strategic communications systems for defense, civilian and commercial markets. In recent years, the Government Systems unit has won a number of large contracts to provide the base infrastructure in voice, video and data for the military services at locations worldwide and most recently at the Pentagon itself.The contract to renovate the Pentagon's information technology and telecommunications infrastructure was awarded in August 1998 and is valued at $110 million over 10 years. For the project, called the Above-Ground Telecommunications Backbone, GTE and its team will design and install a system that satisfies the Pentagon's requirements for voice, video and data communications, both classified and unclassified, into the 21st century.Muldoon said GTE has lost only one of these types of awards in recent years. "We consider ourselves to be the top company in providing base telecommunications infrastructure," he said. "We're positioned strongly in this market."One of the company's strengths is its long-standing customer relationships, which allow GTE officials to understand customers' needs, he said. Consequently, a large portion of its work is repeat business.An example is the Transportation Department's Information Technology Omnibus Procurement contract. GTE originally was one of 17 companies selected in May 1996 for this $1.3 billion contract to provide a full spectrum of information technology services. GTE executed task orders valued at $125 million in two years under this contract. GTE was selected again as a prime contractor in January when the Transportation Department staged a recompete and extended the work as ITOP II. Twenty-five other companies also were selected for different portions of this contract, which is valued at $10 billion over seven years. Federal projects on which GTE plans to bid this year include upgrading the communications network for the Federal Aviation Administration; enhancing the Army's communications infrastructure; outsourcing and privatization, such as helping the National Security Agency privatize its IT and communications networks.GTE Government Systems also will look for commercial applications for its products and services. Muldoon mentioned GTE's CyberTrust product as an example of a defense application that was transitioned to the private sector. This product, which was transferred to BBN Technologies, an operating unit of GTE Internetworking, can be used to provide certificates of authority for online transactions.Overall, however, GTE Government Systems does not have plans to pursue new business avenues. "We're somewhat cautious in how we approach new markets," Muldoon said. "Repeat business is significant to us ? same product, same customer. We're going to protect our DoD business."1255 Corporate Drive, Irving, Texas 75038 * www.gte.com * $521,363,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Ed McKennaWoodland Hills, Calif.-based Litton Industries Inc. is using its new heft to bid and win a variety of key defense and federal civilian contracts. The growth of Litton's IT business can be traced to the acquisition of TASC Inc., Reading, Mass., in April 1998, and PRC Inc., McLean, Va., in April 1996. Both are part of Litton's Information Systems Group in Woodland Hills, and the largest of the company's five operating units. Also falling under the Information Systems Group umbrella are the Data Systems Division and Litton Enterprise Solutions.Litton's Information Systems Group generated more than $1.2 billion in revenue in 1998 or nearly one-third of Litton's overall revenue of $4.4 billion. Alden Munson, senior vice president and group executive of the Information Systems Group, expects his unit's revenue to swell to $1.5 billion in 1999. According to Munson, the company is going through "a rationalization of our lines of business across the division." TASC and PRC have some businesses that overlap, he said.For example, both PRC and TASC provide IT services related to weather forecasting and analysis. PRC does bulk weather processing for the federal government, while TASC does broadcast and value-added analysis services, he said. The company is exploring ways the two can address the total weather business, he said. A consolidation of related company operations is likely within the next six months. Meanwhile, the two organizations continue to accrue new business. PRC, tapped as a prime contractor on the General Services Administration's Seat Management contract last summer, recorded its first task order on the contract from the GSA itself in December. The initial order calls for PRC to provide desktop computer services to about 2,500 GSA employees. "If we get that right, we'll roll out the other 14,000 or 15,000 GSA seats," said Munson. The potential value of the contract is about $600 million.Last fall, the Department of Defense selected PRC as the prime integrator for the Government Computer-based Patient Record program. Valued at $20 million, the contract calls for the company to develop a framework for the electronic sharing of patient records. This particular contract was awarded as a task order under the Defense Medical Information Systems/Systems Integration, Design, Development, Operations & Maintenance Services contract, an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity vehicle awarded in April 1998 to PRC and six other contractors. This contract will last five years and has a ceiling of $2.5 billion.PRC also won a deal to manage the space agency's sounding rocket program at Wallops Island, Va. The company projects the value of the five-year contract at $250 million. But two three-year options could bring the total contract value to more than $500 million, Munson said. TASC, which Litton sought for its intelligence expertise, has retained about $100 million in contracts since it was acquired last year, said Munson. TASC brought strong capabilities in intelligence systems and services and 2,000 employees with security clearances. Also, the Transportation Department gave TASC an information systems security deal under the Information Technology Omnibus Procurement II contract. Although there have been no substantial orders off the deal, the ITOP vehicle is potentially worth $10 billion over five years. ITOP is an example of where the Information Systems Group pooled its capabilities to win federal business. PRC, a subcontractor on the effort, brought to the table about $1 billion in revenue and an impressive roster of government clients; TASC had more than $400 million in sales and access to intelligence community business. Another key win for the Information Systems unit is the five-year, Regional/Sector Air Operation Center Upgrade. Under this contract, the Data Systems Division is continuing to modernize the six North American Aerospace Defense Command Regional and Sector Air Operations Centers that ensure the sovereignty of U.S. airspace. Awarded in 1997, it is potentially worth $150 million.The company's experience on the project also gives Litton a leg up on the competition to provide similar systems for other countries. "It has already helped us go after a brand new air defense system that the country of Kuwait is planning right now," said Litton spokesman Brandon Belote. That contract is expected to be worth more than $1 billion. 21240 Burbank Blvd. * Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367 * www.littoncorp.com * $504,766,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Richard McCaffery Michael Dell has made a fortune selling PCs, but his company's strategy is no longer confined to selling desktops or even its own products.What will Dell Computer Corp. look like in two years?"I don't think we'll be viewed as a box company," said Tom Buchsbaum, vice president and general manager of Dell Federal.The Round Rock, Texas, company is moving into the higher end of technology with more powerful servers and storage equipment, Buchsbaum said.In addition, Dell just launched a new online superstore, called Gigabuys.com, aimed at offering individuals and organizations all the computer products they will ever need.The site, activated March 3, offers more than 30,000 products by leading vendors, everything from networking equipment to digital cameras. Dell plans to grow the list to 40,000 products by year's end."Everything you would want to surround a computer is in the scope of what we sell," Buchsbaum said.The company earned $1.5 billion last year on revenue of $18.2 billion. Its 1998 revenue jumped 48 percent, and earnings did even better, growing 55 percent.Dell has been as successful in the public sector as it has in the private sector. The company came in No. 1 for General Services Administration schedule sales in 1998, ringing up $427 million, up from $270 million the year before. Dell's GSA sales more than doubled those of its nearest rival, Gateway Inc. of North Sioux City, S.D., which had $214 million in 1998 GSA sales.On March 9, Dell notched a victory at the Air Force. The company landed a blanket purchase agreement worth up to $400 million, one of three companies picked to provide desktops, servers and portable computers under the contract. The other companies are Gateway Inc. and Micron Electronics Inc. of Nampa, Idaho. The contract was issued by the Air Force's Standard Systems Group at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. Last year, the Air Force picked Dell to provide similar products under a one-year deal supporting its Desktop 5 initiative, which expired in March. "The Air Force BPA was critical for us," Buchsbaum said. "The Air Force was a large growing account for us last year. We think they're a leadership agency." Thomas Meagher, a director at the investment banking firm Boles, Knop & Co. of Middleburg, Va., said Dell burst onto the scene just a few years ago and roared along as procurement reform made it easier for companies to do business with the federal government."It's the direct buying model that really changed things," he said. "They're cutting most of the resellers out."Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, Dell was quick to use the Internet as a way of streamlining the buying process. The company's Web site, which offers online shopping and tracking of orders, does about $14 million worth of transactions daily and represents about 25 percent of Dell's business. Dell plans to boost this to 50 percent by 2000. By summer, Dell plans to add to its new Gigabuys venture by setting up customized Web pages for commercial clients. This is the same strategy Dell used for customers that shop at its longstanding Web site. The company has designed hundreds of specialized sites for government and commercial clients that allow them to buy and configure Dell computers online based on the specifications of their contract.If Dell's past record is any indication, government buyers can soon expect to buy thousands of computer products through customized Gigabuys Web pages, since the company has rushed to duplicate its commercial practices in the federal market. One Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas 78682 * www.dell.com * $476,771,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich A rare breed among federal contractors, Mitre Corp. is a not-for-profit systems engineering, integration and information company that operates federally funded research and development centers for government sponsors.Among the agencies using the professional services of such centers, known as FFRDCs, are the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. Mitre also works closely with the U.S. armed forces and international aviation authorities.Martin Faga, Mitre executive vice president and director of the Defense Department's FFRDC, said federally funded research centers usually establish a long-term relationship with the partner, typically 20 to 30 years with performance reviews every five years. Dealing with issues during the earliest phases of a project, Mitre very often "works on a problem before it can be defined. We often convert ideas from general terms into RFPs [requests for proposals]," he said.Engineers from Mitre, which was founded in 1958 and has primary headquarters in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va., support nearly every major organization in the Defense Department and intelligence community. Among the activities pursued in defending military and intelligence computer networks, for example, are to analyze potential threats, develop guidelines for protective measures, create and implement an information protection architecture, model the effects of information operations attacks, design tools and applications and test, monitor and evaluate the architecture once in place.The company and the Army are redesigning war- fighting structures and procedures with IT by digitizing the battlefield. This allows detailed and accurate digital information to be readily accessible in a military operation.The FAA is another major customer. Mitre is designing, developing and implementing air traffic management solutions, and recent work focuses on modernizing the National Airspace System automation and infrastructure to handle rapid growth in air traffic while improving system efficiency.Among its newer contracts is one with the Internal Revenue Service, awarded in October 1998, to operate a FFRDC. Operating one of the largest and most complex information systems in the world, the IRS collects and processes $1.5 trillion in taxes each year. It is now modernizing its information systems through partnering arrangements with private industry and Mitre.The level of the modernization effort is seen in the following figures. Each year the IRS helps 6.3 million taxpayers at walk-in offices and processes 205 million tax returns as well as 1.3 billion information returns, such as W2 forms and 1099s. It also assists an average of 99 million taxpayers by telephone.Mitre, with 25 staff currently assigned, is involved in all aspects of IRS modernization. For example, Mitre is helping the IRS manage its prime contractor for system modernization, developing information security requirements for electronic tax filing, assisting with a new architecture for future IRS IT systems and assessing IRS progress toward successful enterprise modernization. Mitre's role is to assist the IRS in offering tax customers seamless, real-time support comparable to that of private industry.Faga said IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti's background in industry makes him extremely knowledgeable about management principles. That translates into a focus on taxpayers as IRS customers. As a result, he said, "It gives us a strong working environment for our technical, organizational and programmatic advice in tax modernization."According to its most recent financial statement, total revenue amounted to $488 million for fiscal year 1997 (October to September). Contract costs alone accounted for $464.3 million, just a shade over 96 percent of total costs and expenses. For the not-for-profit, net of revenue over costs and expenses came to $6 million. In fiscal 1996, total revenue came to $454 million, with total costs and expenses of $453.8 million. Net of revenue under costs and expenses came to $2.2 million.Mitre's newest financial numbers are not expected to be out until late spring.202 Burlington Road, Bedford, Mass. 01730 * www.mitre.org * $471,693,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich In both the breadth and depth of its contracts with the federal government, IBM Corp. maintains a substantial presence in the public sector market.Its projects range from seat management for the General Services Administration, through scientific and engineering workstation procurement for NASA, all the way to integrated systems acquisition for the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.For the company that develops and manufactures advanced information technologies ? including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and micro-electronics ? federal contract products and services generated more than $1.4 billion in 1998 and represented growth of 20 percent over the previous year, according to industry sources.To John Nyland, vice president of federal marketing, the focus in the public sector is to take commercially available technology and apply it in solving government IT problems. In more and more cases, it also means applying IBM's approach to e-business, a general term the company uses to describe how organizations use intranets to reorganize and re-engineer their operations to do electronic business.Nyland cited two contracts as examples: IBM's Department of Defense DIN-PAC (Digital Imaging Network - Picture Archival and Communication system) and the Census Bureau Data Access and Dissemination System, recently renamed American Fact Finder.The $250 million firm-fixed price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract from the Defense Department to set up DIN-PAC calls for IBM to install the filmless radiology system. This system includes the acquisition, transmission, display, archiving and management of diagnostic radiological images and reports at military hospitals and clinics worldwide.DIN-PAC lets Defense Department medical staff process digital images, such as magnetic resonance imaging and X-rays, and send them to an archive. That system distributes the images to viewing workstations, where medical staff may collaborate in real-time on diagnosis and treatment. Other clinical information is available by integrating DIN-PAC with the Defense Department's existing Hospital Information System, part of the Composite Health Care System.The network, based on asynchronous transfer mode and Ethernet standards, is designed to support high speeds and bandwidth for quick access to large amounts of data.Another example of IBM e-business for federal government is the Census contract, just now up and running in test mode (factfinder.census.gov/java_prod/dads.ui.homePage.HomePage). It calls for design and development of a system to distribute important data. Full operation is set to coincide with the year 2000 census.A different project, one in high performance computing, that Nyland highlights to show how IBM stays on the cutting edge in its government work is the ASCI Blue (Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative) contract awarded by the Department of Energy. According to Nyland, the contract called for building and deploying a supercomputer to perform nuclear simulations. Delivery in 1998 of a 3 teraflop (3 trillion floating point operations per second) computer to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., specifically was requested. IBM delivered the world's fastest supercomputer with 3.88 teraflops.Last year the Energy Department exercised a contract option for ASCI White, calling for IBM to deliver a 30 teraflop machine in 2001. Down the road is ASCI Turquoise for a system rated at 100 teraflops.On the other side of the computing spectrum, IBM continues work for the federal government in an area it calls pervasive computing, where the telecommuter of the future will be completely mobile with personal computer, pager and cellular telephone wrapped tightly in an easy-to-carry package.Among its different rankings, IBM is sixth on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. companies, 15th on the Fortune Global 500, sixth on the Forbes Super 100, 13th on the Business Week Global 1000 and first by revenue in six categories in the annual Datamation rankings of Top 100 IT vendors. New Orchard Road, Armonk, N.Y. 10504 * www.ibm.com * $443,225,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John Makulowich One of the information technology industry's better kept secrets has to be General Electric Co.'s Capital Information Technology Solutions group. The GE unit, which jumped to No. 17 on this year's Washington Technology Top 100 list from 38 last year, did $74.4 million in IT sales through the General Services Administration schedules in fiscal 1998, according to GSA data.Parent company General Electric, which touts itself as a diversified manufacturing, technology and services company with operations worldwide, came in with record revenues last fiscal year of $100.5 billion. That figure compares with $90.8 billion in 1997 and $79.2 billion in 1996.The Capital IT Solutions Group is profiled on its World Wide Web site as a premier worldwide provider of IT products and services.That translates into delivery of hardware, software and professional support services to help plan, acquire, implement, manage and refresh an organization's information systems.Its Federal Systems division is online with GSA schedules 70A and 70B/C as well as the NIH Electronic Computer Store. Company officials did not respond to requests for interviews with executives for this profile.The Capital IT Solutions Group is one of 28 niche companies in GE Capital Services and part of that group's equipment management division (along with Americon, Aviation Services, Fleet Services, GE SeaCo, Modular Space, Penske Truck Leasing, Railcar Services and TIP). GE Capital Services is made of up five divisions.Among the Capital IT Solutions Group's customers are U.S. corporations, governments and institutions with needs ranging from refurbishing desktop systems through integrating legacy and local area networks to safeguard information assets. Another IT unit, Comstor, serves as a nationwide distributor of computer technology products and services. With headquarters in Chantilly, Va., Comstor operates offices and warehouses in Boulder, Colo., and Dallas. It offers wholesale distribution and integration services, technical support and sales support for system integrators and value-added resellers.Founded in 1986 and bought by GE in 1996, Comstor claims it grew from $42 million in 1994 to more than $200 million in 1997. Currently, Comstor carries more than 8,500 networking, storage, hardware and software products from more than 100 manufacturers, including Cisco Systems, IBM, Maxtor, Microsoft, Seagate, ViewSonic and 3Com.The company also provides professional services and Internet connectivity, as well as RAM and CPUs. In Comstor's integration facilities, systems engineers configure, build and test networking solutions and custom PCs and servers.Comstor is part of GE Information Technology Distribution Group in Boulder. That group owns Access Graphics, a distributor of computer products targeting commercial customers, and Integration Alliance, a commercial distributor in Englewood, Colo.Comstor itself bought Data Storage Marketing Inc. of Boulder, a PC and peripheral products distributor. According to its Web site, over half of Comstor's customers are government resellers, with the company focused on financing programs for 8(a) and SDB resellers, same-day delivery services and assistance meeting requirements for government procurement. For example, it offers to help companies from the request for proposals stage through delivery and post-sales support and promises to enhance government sales opportunities by providing such support services as a dedicated government World Wide Web site, lead generation service, Comstor/Cisco Network Alliance Program and special government pricing.The Comstor government team also offers such services as request for proposal response preparation, systems and networks that meet government specifications, certified wide area network consultants, nationwide installation support and maintenance and low-cost financing programs.General Electric Co., 3135 Easton Turnpike Fairfield, Conn. 06431 * www.ge.com * $425,157,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Steve LeSueurElectronic Data System Corp. executives see rich opportunities at both civilian and defense agencies to sell EDS' integration expertise in the highly competitive federal government market.Among the projects EDS is competing for is the Army's Distance Learning Phase II program to provide classroom computer, video and communications technology and services to train troops and prepare them for battle. Company officials estimate the contract will be worth $90 million. EDS also will be chasing the Social Security Administration's planned automation of its call centers. They receive over 50 million calls each year. Work on this project, valued at $80 million, is expected to begin in July. As EDS gears up for these and other projects, it has embarked on some cost-cutting measures. "We're going through some hard looks at our business," said George Newstrom, president of EDS' Government Industry Group in Herndon, Va.Newstrom in March initiated staff cutbacks in the government group aimed at reducing support and overhead. "But we're taking none out of the operations side and none out of service delivery," he said.Richard Brown, new chairman and chief executive officer of EDS, Plano, Texas, is expected to announce corporatewide changes to contain costs and improve the company's profitability at an April 29 meeting with financial analysts. A long-term focus of these changes will be on increasing shareholder value, said Russell Price, a securities analyst with Olde Discount Corp., Detroit."People are expecting positive things from the April meeting," said Price, who noted Brown earned a reputation at Cable & Wireless for moving quickly. "It's definitely going to be a year of change for them."But change is nothing new to EDS. Company officials in October 1998 restructured the Government Industry Group to reflect both changes in the government marketplace and the way the government procures its information technology services.The company merged the three separate business units that served the military, civilian federal and state and local governments, and then divided the new organization into functional areas, such as health care administration, personnel management services, financial systems services and business systems services. The idea is that all levels of government should be more connected and interdependent."The ultimate customer of government is the citizen," said Newstrom. "Citizens do not care where the service is coming from. They want the service quickly, they want it efficiently, they want it timely; but they don't care whether it's at the federal, state, local or county level."EDS continues to win contracts from many federal agencies. In April 1998, it was among seven companies awarded the Defense Department Health Affairs contract for Defense Medical Information Management/Systems Integration, Design, Development, Operations and Maintenance Services.Under this five-year contract, valued at $2.5 billion, EDS and others will support a medical network providing clinicians electronic access to integrated information at more than 700 hospitals, clinics and treatment facilities worldwide.In June 1998, the company won a five-year contract with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to continue the agency's efforts to modernize and upgrade its information technology and business processes. The five-year contract has a collective value of $750 million for EDS and the four other companies selected for the project.In December, EDS won a two-year, $100 million contract from the Census Bureau to develop a telephone assistance network to ensure the accuracy of the 2000 census. During March to July 2000, the system is expected to handle at least 11 million calls in six languages and to initiate another 4.5 million calls to resolve discrepancies or obtain information missing on forms.Newstrom expects the government unit to grow at about 6 percent to 8 percent over the next three to five years, although growth could be even greater if electronic government takes off. He also emphasized that 50 percent of EDS' government business is now outside of the United States.Projects in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom underscore the company's commitment to a global capability, he said. "We've got a lot of opportunity still in Europe and Australia."5400 Legacy Drive * Plano, Texas 75024 www.eds.com * $402,941,000XXXSPLITXXX-By John MakulowichCapitalizing on the FTS2000 contract it won 10 years ago and won again late last year as FTS2001, the Sprint Government Systems Division offers information management products and services to civilian federal agencies. The Sprint solutions portfolio includes high-speed data, for example, asynchronous transfer mode transport, frame relay, X.25, Internet and intranet and global satellite communications and videoconferencing networks.It was January 1987 when the General Services Administration issued the initial request for proposal for FTS2000 services. The RFP's scope included replacing the existing voice and low-speed data services provided by the Federal Telecommunications System. The FTS2000 procurement was to combine all telecommunications services into one integrated network.In January 1988, GSA issued an amendment for two awards: Network A and Network B. AT&T won the Network A procurement; Sprint won Network B. Sprint was called on to transition to full FTS2000 service within three years after the contract award. The company wound up making the full transition and implementation in half the time required, about 18 months ahead of schedule.Last December, GSA selected Sprint for telecommunications service to federal agencies in the first of two possible awards in the multibillion dollar FTS2001 competition. The total value of government business for the entire FTS2001 contract was estimated at more than $5 billion over eight years. Each vendor was guaranteed a minimum of $750 million over the life of the contract.For Sprint, the award means that existing FTS2000 customers can make a seamless transition to FTS2001 service and gain access to more telecommunications solutions such as wireless, local and long distance voice and data and video services.According to Jim Payne, Sprint assistant vice president for FTS2001 and strategic marketing and the person who headed up the bid effort, in order to compete in the federal market, companies need to understand government cycles. The FTS2000 and FTS2001 are examples of the need not only to upgrade services and products, but also to achieve cost reductions."In developing a strategy for the federal market, you cannot look at the government as a quick hit or flash in the pan. You need to start slowly and continuing building your reputation," Payne said. "Ten to 15 years ago, we were just starting. The original FTS2000 contract showed we had the ability to deliver the products and services we said we could." Payne said the FTS2001 contract award was a reaffirmation for Sprint. But he is quick to point out that it puts the company on a different footing. No longer is contract performance a reputation builder, nor is the least expensive cost the most important element. "Price is no longer the differentiator. The true differentiator is who wants the business more, who is willing to support and work with the government and evolve these requirements," Payne said. "The key is partnership, seriously addressing the question: am I interested in perpetuating this relationship. What we both want is the same: the government wants better value and service; I want to grow our business as their partner."Other noteworthy government contracts Payne cited include DAS-u, a Defense Information Systems Agency initiative to upgrade and optimize network performance with ATM. The first DAS-u customer is the Non-Secure IP Router Network. By replacing private line circuits with Sprint's nationwide ATM service, DISA improves service between the network's core routers. Sprint is also working on the barracks phone service for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. Yet another contract is the Next Generation Weather Radar Communications Service, where the company provides communication services for the NEXRAD program. Through this contract, Sprint connects about 135 Air Force and National Weather Service radar sites to users throughout the 48 contiguous states.2330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Westwood, Kan. 66205 www.sprint.com * $326,739,000XXXSPLITXXX-By Richard McCafferyGovernment Technology Services Inc. is revamping its business model with a high-powered Internet portal and focusing on higher margin work, company officials said.Two recent wins include the Army's $300 million PC-3 contract and the Air Force's $35 million IT-2 contract. These are good examples of the kind of work GTSI wants; they both offer a mix of low volume and high volume sales, as well as services such as warranty guarantees, said Joel Lipkin, vice president of business development. "We're interested in situations where we can differentiate ourselves based on product, relationships, program management and worldwide support," Lipkin said. GTSI's revenue grew 25 percent last year, from $486 million in 1997 to $606 million in 1998. Net income jumped to $2.3 million from a loss of $5.1 million in 1997. It was the first time GTSI had four consecutive quarters of profitability since 1994.The Chantilly, Va., reseller got its start in 1983 selling software to the government. By 1986 it was selling computers, networking equipment and peripheral products. It has since expanded to offer configuration, installation and maintenance services.But business went south when companies like Dell Computer Corp. of Round Rock, Texas, and Gateway Inc. of North Sioux City, S.D., entered the government market. Dell got its General Services Administration schedule in 1997. Gateway got its GSA schedule in 1994. Competition for companies like GTSI rose, computer product prices fell, and resellers struggled as profit margins shrank. From 1995 to 1997, GTSI lost $30 million. Dendy Young, chairman and chief executive, joined GTSI in 1995 and has been working to turn things around ever since. Starting in 1996, he invested $6 million to upgrade the company's information infrastructure. In January 1998, he opened an automated distribution center in Chantilly. Young spent much of last year integrating rival BTG Inc.'s reseller division, which GTSI bought for $23 million in February 1998. BTG, a systems integrator in Fairfax, Va., wanted to divest its low margin reselling business, and GTSI wanted to improve its bottom line by bulking up.Key to the company's strategy in 1999 is GTSI.com, a Web portal that offers government buyers online shopping services, contract information, links to a federal jobs database, stock quotes and news. The idea is to turn Web surfers into shoppers. GTSI unveiled the Web site March 15."No question the business that flows through the Web will be more efficient than what does not, and that will improve our financial strength," Young said.GTSI handles over 100,000 transactions annually, and 80 percent of them are for orders less than $5,000, said Dennis Defensor, vice president of Web commerce. Defensor wants to see that business online within two years. "The sweet spot for Web commerce is those kinds of deals," said Defensor. "Our business really lends itself well to electronic commerce."Perhaps just as important as increased sales has been GTSI's ability to boost gross margins from 7.6 percent to 8.5 percent. Many resellers that haven't been squeezed out of business by Dell and falling prices kept profits from eroding by adding volume, services and higher end products.GTSI has seen a payoff from adding services to its many government contracts, Lipkin said. For instance, it just completed a multimillion-dollar delivery order under an existing contract for the Naval Surface Warfare's Aegis program that was half product and half integration, he said. Under the task order, GTSI helped integrate networking equipment made by market leader Cisco Systems Inc.GTSI works with about a dozen integrators on similar projects, farming out the heavy integration to its partners and handling the simpler work, such as installation and maintenance, Lipkin said. Integrator partners include Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, Wang Federal Inc. of McLean, Va., and RMS Information Systems Inc. of Vienna, Va.Thomas Hewitt, chief executive officer of the market research company Federal Sources Inc., said GTSI has turned the corner. "The financials are in good shape," he said. "They're making money. They've got new facilities and a new electronic commerce Web site."4100 Lafayette Center Drive * Chantilly, Va. 20151 www.gtsi.com * $322,700,000XXXSPLITXXX-Rank - Company Name - Total Contracts - Headquarters - Rank Last Year - Web Site$2,398,874,000Bethesda, Md.1www.lmco.com