Raytheon to lead Army global training project

Raytheon Technical Services Co. has been selected to head a landmark effort to consolidate and upgrade the Army's worldwide training and support systems.

RTSC of Reston, Va., will be assisted by Computer Sciences Corp. and the Warrior Training Alliance, a group of small and midsize companies that specialize in military training technology.

The Warfighter Field Operations Customer Support program aims to create the most modern, collaborative and information-enabled training environment by consolidating operations, maintenance, systems integration and engineering support services for all Army instructional systems.

The program also will include support for training exercises and operations, maintenance for all training and range systems and curriculum development and instruction. Beyond that, it will cover management oversight and administrative support for contractor activities, as well as supply support for all government-owned property and materiel.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract has an estimated value of $11.2 billion over 10 years.

Sixty-four member companies of the WTA, 43 of which are small businesses, also will participate as subcontractors. Small-business members will also benefit from collective mentoring from RTSC and CSC. The alliance was selected because of its experience in all facets of Army training, Raytheon said.

Mike Edwards, WTA vice president and program manager at RTSC, said that the IDIQ contract headed by Raytheon replaces three current training programs: Live training run by RTSC; virtual training headed by CSC; and constructive training, which RTSC will take over from General Dynamics Corp.

"We're in what's called a transition phase, which runs from now to Oct. 31," Edwards told Washington Technology. The starting date under the newly awarded contract is Nov. 1, 2007, he added.

"The primary activity during the transition phase for RTSC, as the prime, is to work on consolidating and pulling in the workforce from the other two respective contracts," he said.

Edwards said the training program he will direct will encompass more than 400 Army sites in the United States and overseas. "I will have an integrated program management staff here in Orlando [Fla.], which will monitor the day-to-day execution of this contract around the world," he said.

RTSC is a unit of Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass. The parent company has 73,000 employees and had revenue of $20.3 billion in 2006. The company ranks No. 6 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.