Verizon expands services for DOD computing modernization program

MCI Communications Services Inc., doing business as Verizon Business Services Inc., will upgrade telecommunications services for the Defense Department under an 18-month contract worth $40.8 million.

The firm-fixed-price Air Force contract provides for Defense Research and Engineering Network II telecommunication services for the High Performance Computing Modernization Program Office, according to a June 11 DOD announcement.

The contract work will be performed at various sites in the United States as well as abroad. Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the contracting activity.

The High Performance Computing Modernization Program was initiated in 1992 in response to congressional direction to modernize DOD laboratories' high performance computing (HPC) capabilities, according to the program’s website.

HPC tools help solve complicated and time-consuming modern military and security problems, and programs gain knowledge to protect the military through new weapons systems, prepare U.S. aircraft for overseas deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assist long-term weather predictions to plan humanitarian and military operations throughout the world.