CONTRACTS

B>Minority Business Wins Military Transport Deal
McDonnell Douglas has selected Telecom Solutions Inc. for a contract valued at $8.1 million for its automated work management system as part of a cost reduction plan for the McDonnell Douglas/U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III military transport.

TSI has been working on a prototype for the past 2 years for the Air Force's Industrial Modernization Incentive program. As the company with the most compatible solution, TSI was chosen for the 18-month contract over Hughes and EDS. Amrik Poonian, founder of TSI, said it is much easier to obtain contracts when your company is small and flexible.

TSI developed the work management system that will replace existing text-based work instructions with online electronic image-based work instructions. The sophisticated system captures and stores video images of actual work performed and links them to written work instructions on a single computer screen.

The image-based work instructions provide, for the first time, the ability to visually illustrate for an employee the exact method of performing an assigned task on the shop or factory floor. The system provides step-by-step visual images, capturing the expert knowledge of an experienced operator to educate the less-experienced operator, greatly reducing training time and variability.

The system is part of an ongoing effort by McDonnell Douglas to produce the C-17 more efficiently, reduce its cost and continue on-time or ahead-of-schedule deliveries.

-- Tania Anderson

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Westinghouse Electric Corp. has been awarded a $29.2 million contract by the the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to design and develop the joint United States/United Kingdom Surface Ship Torpedo Defense system, which will protect U.S. and U.K. Navy ships from torpedo attack well into the next century.

The Defense Information Technology Contracting Office has awarded COMSAT RSI the Commercial Satellite Communications Initiative contract to provide satellite communications and bandwidth management services to the U.S. Department of Defense. The 10-year contract is worth $3.7 million.

The U.S. Army has awarded ITT Aerospace/Communications Division (A/CD) of Fort Wayne, Ind., a contract worth $9.5 million for portable radios and Lightweight InterNet Controllers (LINCs), which are compatible with the Single Channel Ground and Airborne System (SINCGARS) System Improvement Program (SIP). The 575 SINCGARS SIP Portable radios and 545 LINCs will be used in the joint service Task Force XXI Advanced Warfighting Experiments (AWE) beginning in 1997.

Severn Companies Inc. was awarded a 3-year, $4.5 million requirements contract from the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground for networking and support services. Severn will be responsible for networking the one-million-acre campus to provide higher speed communications using ATM and FDDI.

other

Hughes Electronics Corp. of Los Angeles, Calif., will provide 12 satellites for the Inmarsat-P Global mobile telephone system under a contract for more than $1.3 billion.

Parametric Technology Corp., Waltham, Mass., received a $3.3 million order for Pro/ENGINEER software and services from Shin Nihon Koki of Japan, which anticipates increased competitive advantage with this software.

Westinghouse Electric Corp., Baltimore, Md., has been awarded a $35 million contract from Northrop Electronic Systems International. The contract will be used for development and production of advanced missile warning detection subsystems.

Contracts highlights contracts awarded by the federal government or a contractor. To include your company, send a press release to Contracts Editor, Washington Technology, 8500, Leesburg Pike, Suite 7500, Vienna, Va. 22182; Internet E-mail to technews@technews.com