Air Force adds three new firms to $427M software contract
By
Ross Wilkers
The Air Force keeps one incumbent and adds three new companies to a $427 million software research-and-development contract.
The Air Force has kept one incumbent and added three new companies to a potential seven-year, $427 million contract for broad software research-and-development services.
All four bidders were selected for an award including that of Polaris Alpha, the Defense Department said in its Monday awards digest.
Newcomers to the contract include American Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton and General Dynamics’ IT services segment.
Acquired by Parsons Corp. last year, Polaris Alpha inherited the contract through the creation of the company itself in 2016 that saw three Arlington Capital Partners-owned businesses rolled up to become a larger contractor.
One of those three pieces was Intelligent Software Solutions, which was awarded the contract in 2012 when it was known as Air Space Precision Engagement Research and Engineering, or ASPERE, with a ceiling value of $593 million. Deltek data indicates the Air Force has spent 75 percent of that ceiling.
The new contract goes by the acronym GARDEM -- Global Application Research, Development, Engineering and Maintenance.
Through GARDEM, the Air Force is seeking software that can support a general data visualization and analysis infrastructure to help manage information from multiple data sources.
Awardees will bid for orders to help implement updated software baselines for that infrastructure.