CSC catches a ray of Starlight

Computer Sciences Corp. won the first task order, for mainframe support, under the Starlight contract, a multi-year program worth up to $1.2 billion. The task order, worth $36.1 million over five years, was awarded this month by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Starlight is the successor to STARS, the INS' contract for a range of IT services and equipment, which is set to expire in stages throughout 2003. The new contract is being implemented through the National Institutes of Health's governmentwide acquisition contract, Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners II.

Starlight "pretty much follows the way the work was structured under the STARS contract," said Hank Di Nunzio, CSC's account executive for the Department of Homeland Security. The company held the mainframe support component of the original contract, he said: "STARS is still active [and] we still work under that contract."

Di Nunzio said Starlight has been split into eight requests for proposal, which roughly correspond to the elements included in the original STARS contract. Of the eight RFPs, mainframe support was the first to be released and awarded. The RFP for financial systems was released March 13, and bids were due today, while the RFP for administrative systems was released Monday, said a bureau procurement officer.

"We're trying to stagger them a little bit, to accommodate the various transition requirements in the various domain areas," said CIO Scott Hastings. Still to come are RFPs for inspection systems, interagency border inspection system infrastructure support, enforcement systems, benefits systems, and records management systems, he said.

As for CSC's mainframe support task order, Di Nunzio said the company's formal start is May 1. Between now and then the company is making internal preparations for the work. CSC will have a 90-day transition period for itself and a STARS incumbent whose responsibilities were included in this task order, he said.

Some 30 to 35 CSC employees will work on the task order, Di Nunzio said, out of a downtown Washington office. The company plans to pursue other task orders within Starlight, he said.

CSC of El Segundo, Calif., reported revenue of $11.4 billion in fiscal 2002. The company currently employs about 90,000 people, thanks in part to its March 2003 acquisition of DynCorp, Reston, Va.