CSC Team Lands NSA Groundbreaker

Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., has won the National Security Agency's Groundbreaker contract, a $2 billion-plus, 10-year information technology outsourcing project, the agency announced July 31.

NSA expects the contract to be fully operational in November, two months ahead of the original schedule.

The winning team, called the Eagle Alliance, is a CSC-led joint venture with Logicon Inc., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles. Strategic alliance partners include General Dynamics Corp., Falls Church, Va., for telephone and networks; Keane Federal Systems, a subsidiary of Keane Inc., Boston, for distributed computing and enterprise management support; and Omen Inc. of Annapolis Junction, Md., a small business that will integrate the small-business consortium working with the Eagle Alliance.

Technology and service delivery partners for the CSC team include Affiliated Computer Services Inc., BTG Inc., CACI International Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., TRW Inc., Windemere, Fiber Plus, Verizon Communications Inc., and Superior Communications.

CSC beat two competing teams led by OAO Corp. of Greenbelt, Md., and AT&T Corp. of New York.

NSA's press release said that the agency is in transition, and it seeks to take advantage of technology advances in the commercial marketplace through an aggressive acquisition strategy. The Eagle Alliance team will be responsible for redefining and implementing new IT infrastructure processes and solutions.

Among its goals, Groundbreaker is designed to improve IT services, provide for continuous modernization of the agency's IT infrastructure and save money.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, NSA director , said the program will allow the agency "to refocus assets on its core missions of providing foreign signals intelligence and protecting U.S. national security-related information systems by turning over several ITI services for industry's purview."

Groundbreaker also has been designed to take an employee friendly approach to redefining NSA's internal corporate structure, the agency said. Contractors will receive monetary incentives to hire a significant number of agency employees and offer them comparable or better pay, benefits and opportunities.

NSA will continue to provide transition services, such as career counseling, resume preparation and seminars, for employees interested in moving to the private sector under the contract.