No protest worries for $500M DIA award
By
Nick Wakeman
DIA has avoided any protest worries involving a new $500 million R&D contract by giving awards to all nine bidders.
Nine bidders have each won a contract from the Defense Intelligence Agency to provide research and development support under a 10-year, $500 million contract.
The companies will now compete for task oders under the Helios contract. This will save DIA from any protest worries because all nine bidders received an award. The nine companies are:
- AT&T
- Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
- Harris Corp.
- KeyW Corp.
- Leidos Inc.
- Lockheed Martin Corp.
- MacAulay-Brown Inc.
- Northrop Grumman
- Southwest Research Institute
DIA will use the contract to acquire research, development, technical and engineering services for its Directorate for Science & Technology missions. The contract runs through September 2028.
The work will have a special focus on R&D that can help with analysis, collection, operations and acquisition activities. Task orders also will be let for specialized technical collection and exploitation activities.
This is a new contract, so there are no incumbents, but presumably work that has taken place under existing contracts will be shifted over to HELIOS.
Interestingly, Leidos and Lockheed Martin will be competing against each other. This is noteworthy given that Leidos acquired Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Services business a couple years ago.
On another acquisition related note, MacAulay-Brown is part of Alion Science & Technology after the Aug. 23 close of their deal. Mac-B is operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alion.
WHAT’S IN A NAME
Helios is the Greek god of the Sun. He drove a golden chariot across the sky. How that relates to intelligence R&D, I’m not sure.