Raytheon, Analytical Services battle SAIC supercomputer win
By
Nick Wakeman
Raytheon and Analytical Services have filed protests over a $586 million high-performance computing contract won by SAIC. Meanwhile, the incumbent, Lockheed Martin, is on the sidelines...for now.
Raytheon Co. and Analytical Services Inc. have each filed protests with the Government Accountability Office over a $586 million high-performance computing contract won by Science Applications International Corp.
Because of the protests, work isn’t proceeding on the Army Corps of Engineers contract, which will support five large high-performance computing centers and several smaller ones. The contract is known as the High Performance Computing Next Generation Technical Services, or HITS.
But SAIC does have a page on their website to recruit people to work on the contract, including incumbent personnel.
According to the SAIC page, they are looking for skills around scientific visualization, data center management, network operations, just-in-time inventories and supply chain management.
Lockheed Martin is the incumbent, but so far they haven't filed a protest. In a statement, the company expressed its disappointment in not being selected. Lockheed has supported the high performance computing centers for 13 years. "We believed we were well position to integrate a new HPCE center and enhance user experiences for the HPCMP," the statement said.
When I asked directly about a protest, the answer was "No comment."
But it has to be under consideration. We'll know definitively in the next week or so as the window for filing a protest will close soon.
The work being done by the supercomputers includes creating simulated battlefields that interact with weapon and sensor systems. Modeling work helps create databases that are used to detect enemy submarines, according to procurement documents.
And, of course, weather modeling and prediction is a major role.
Other works includes computational fluid dynamics, space and astrophysical sciences, environmental quality modeling and simulation, structural mechanics and signal and image processing, to name a few.
The contract will support work at Army, Air Force, Navy and Defense Department facilities.
The protests by Analytics Services Inc. (a not-for-profit company) and Raytheon were filed Aug. 7 and 11, respectively. A decision is due Nov. 17 for Analytics Services and Nov. 19 for Raytheon.
I’m assuming in the meantime that Lockheed continues to support the centers, though I haven’t been able to find any notices that the contract was extended. It was originally set to expire in May 2013. The company declined to comment about ongoing work.