Northrop Grumman receives postal order

The U.S. Postal Service has chosen Northrop Grumman Corp. to provide independent verification and validation services for the agency's delivery and retail systems.

The five-year task order could be worth up to $21 million. The Postal Service issued the order under its Information Business Systems Support contract.

Under the contract terms, Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector will design software test plans and procedures, test the USPS systems report the results to the agency. The company also will conduct analyses and assessments of the agency's technical specifications.

The company, which plans to hire 32 new employees for the project, will do the work in Merrifield, Va.

Northrop Grumman Information Technology is based in McLean, Va. The parent company, based in Los Angeles, ranks No. 3 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.