Raytheon wins student loan contract extension

Raytheon Co. won a one-year, $20 million contract extension with the Department of Education for the Federal Family Education Loan program data management system, the company announced Jan. 7.

Raytheon of Lexington, Mass., facilitates the collection of defaulted student loans by providing interactive and batch processing to hundreds of users. Raytheon performs student loan processing and debt collection support for about 5.2 million debts in 3.9 million separate accounts for the department.

In the course of its work, Raytheon helps the Department of Education collect about $2 million a week in defaulted student loans, the company said.

The education loan system is tied into a number of other federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, U.S. Postal Service, Social Security Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Selective Service and state loan guaranty agencies.

Raytheon also helps the Department of Education respond quickly to new legislative and regulatory changes, system improvements and new technology insertion.

The contract should be completed by Dec. 31.

In the same announcement, Raytheon said it is developing a Web-based, off-the-shelf debt management system product line that supports all aspects of loan origination and disbursement, loan servicing and debt collection.

The new product is scheduled to be released in March and will focus on both the federal and state debt management markets, the company said.