Ask the writer | Alice Lipowicz on SBI-Net

Staff writer Alice Lipowicz will take your questions about SBI-Net during an online forum Thursday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.

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SBI-Net raises the issue: Who supplies the products?

It's probably the most sought-after Homeland Security Department contract this year, but the competition thus far has been very polite, even restrained. But now, in the final stages of the contest to see who will build the nation's $2 billion Secure Border Initiative Network, the gloves may be coming off.

Behind-the-scenes sparring has begun over how the five competing teams are handling their "make-or-buy" decisions for components of their border security and surveillance systems.