Mythics Inc. lands $23 million SmartBuy pact with DHS

The Homeland Security Department has awarded a contract for Oracle Corp. software and services initially worth $23 million under the General Services Administration's SmartBuy program.

DHS agencies will be able to purchase Oracle products and services under the contract at their discretion for five years, the department said.

The DHS agreement is the latest in a series of enterprise software contracts the department has been concluding with its major suppliers in recent months. In July 2003, the department issued a $110 million enterprise contract to Dell Computer Corp. for Microsoft software.

According to a contract document DHS provided, the department notified prime contractor Mythics Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., May 27 that it had won the contract in a competitive, negotiated procurement. Mythics representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. The contract award notification states that the agreement has an initial award value of $23.3 million and an overall $48.9 million value if the department exercises all options.

GSA convinced Oracle to join the SmartBuy program this spring. At the time, officials said the Office of Management and Budget was requiring federal agencies to use the SmartBuy contracting vehicle for their software purchases from Oracle. The company is the second-largest supplier of software to the federal government, with annual sales of more than $200 million, according to Federal Sources Inc. of McLean, Va.

GSA had been negotiating the Oracle SmartBuy contract for more than a year.

According to the department, the enterprise agreement will result in savings and cost avoidance of $125 million over five years. "This strategic sourcing effort will reduce DHS agencies' costs of purchasing, operating and maintaining Oracle software products?a very good deal for all DHS agencies," DHS spokesman Larry Orluskie said.

An Oracle spokesman said the company is in a "quiet period" that extends for the two weeks before it announces its quarterly earnings, during which it does not comment on business matters.

Wilson P. Dizard III is a senior writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.