General Dynamics, EADS may team on $1B border contract
By
Nick Wakeman
General Dynamics and EADS will lead a team to chase the next attempt to secure U.S. borders. Who else is chasing the lucrative opportunity?
General Dynamics Corp. and European defense contractor EADS are planning a team to chase a new contract to build a border security system along the U.S.-Mexico border, Reuters is reporting.
The contract will be the redo of the Secure Border Initiative that failed under Boeing Co. Boeing is expected to also bid on the new contract. Other potential bidders include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, according to Reuters.
The news agency estimated that the contract would be worth $1 billion.
Boeing spent five years and was paid over $1 billion on SBInet. The Homeland Security Department program was plagued by cost overruns, shifting requirements and delays. In the end only 53 miles of the border in Arizona has coverage.
The program was canceled in early 2011.
DHS has said that SBInet was too much of a development project and that the new approach would rely on proven technologies.
Reuters reported that General Dynamics would act as the prime on the project. The company has experience with successful, long-term projects such as the Pentagon renovation, which was completed last year.
It also has built much of the Rescue 21 system for the Coast Guard, which covers about 40,000 miles of U.S. coastline and is used for pinpointing emergency locations for search and rescue operations.