BUSINESS IN BRIEF

A public-private job competition at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas was so riddled with errors that the Air Force should consider holding a new competition, the Pentagon inspector general has concluded.

The Pentagon IG criticized the Air Force for its handling of the competition, which was won by Lackland 21st Century Services Consolidated, a California-based contractor team led by CSC in December 2000.

The Air Force reversed itself twice in the competition, leading members of the congressional delegation from Texas to request a Pentagon investigation. Air Force officials made improper changes to the in-house bid, allowed untrained personnel to evaluate bids and permitted an official with a conflict of interest to supervise the appeal from the in-house team, the report found.

As a result, the outcome of the Lackland competition lacks credibility, the IG said. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a ceiling of $70 million if all options are exercised during its three-year life.The Naval Air Warfare Center aircraft division awarded a contract to BAE Systems for engineering and technical services for Navy communication-electronic equipment and systems. Support will be for Navy and Joint Force Systems on land, sea and air within the St. Inigoes, Md., vicinity. The following services will be provided: maintenance; logistic and life-cycle support; technical documentation; configuration management; system, subsystem and equipment training; and engineering support services.CACI announced it has been awarded a contract by the General Services Administration to provide logistics services on the Logistics Worldwide Schedule known as LogWorld.

CACI estimates the value of the multiple-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract vehicle to be $40 million over the five-year base period. The deal has a five-year option.

LogWorld provides a way for federal agencies to obtain logistics management and operations services. Under this contract, clients may procure services to develop and operate logistics systems. Services include supply and value chain management, acquisition support, distribution and transportation services, deployment support and logistics training.
FreeBalance announced it has partnered with the Canadian International Development Agency to deliver $2.4 million in FreeBalance products and services to Kosovo.

FreeBalance eFinancials will be used throughout all levels of public administration, including the Central Fiscal Authority of Kosovo, which is composed of the treasury, tax administration, budgeting, revenue, customs, procurement and regulatory office, central information technology and central administration departments.

In June 2000, FreeBalance successfully completed a pilot project with the United Nations where the company implemented its financial management system for the Kosovo Central Fiscal Authority. The new announcement represents the rollout of that project to Kosovo in its entirety.EDS and Information Builders Inc. announced the launch of an application that helps the Education Department's client account managers to better manage the Federal Direct Student Loan Program by providing up-to-date information about a school's loans and identifying those schools that are most in need of assistance.

Working with EDS and the account managers, Information Builders' consulting division developed an application that provides up-to-date information on student loan disbursements and withdrawals for each school within the direct loan program.
Hansen Information Technologies was picked by the Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety to provide a citywide code enforcement information system.

The Hansen solution includes software licensing, project management, data conversion, interface development and training with an estimated contract value of $1.3 million.

The contract also includes Hansen's new mobile solutions technology to provide a wireless field inspection system running on low-cost, Windows CE3 devices. More than 200 employees located throughout the city will be using the new system to manage the code enforcement activities within the city, including the investigation of more than 50,000 complaints annually.

In addition, more than 150 field inspectors who are responsible for close to 250,000 inspections annually will be using Hansen's new wireless mobile solutions technology.

These business briefs are composed of selected excerpts from the BB&T Capital Markets publication, "A&D/B2G/B2E/G2C Weekly Review," written by Thomas Meagher.