NMCI task dominates July contract countdown

The end of the fiscal year is rapidly approaching, and the July batch of awards shows agencies focused on continuing operations as well as positioning their infrastructure for future growth.

Some of the beneficiaries of this buying activating including some of the biggest names in government IT, such as Northrop Grumman Corp., Computer Sciences Corp. and Harris Corp.

Services the government is buying include IT support, telecommunications, and high-end engineering and research.

The monthly countdown covers contract awards covered by Washington Technology during the previous month. For June’s countdown, click here.

The July contract countdown begins now:

10. SRA supports airport research and development work for FAA

Under this five-year, $57 million contract, SRA International will support the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J. The center operates a state-of-the-art, fullscale, airport pavement test facility that provides high-quality data from rigid and flexible pavement subjected to simulated aircraft traffic.

SRA will provide R&D services in the areas of airport pavement design and testing, aircraft rescue and fire fighting, wildlife hazards, bird strike mitigation and runway surface technology.

9. and 8. Northrop and SAIC 

Northrop to install infrared warning systems on Marine choppers

Northrop Grumman Corp. will provide infrared missile warning systems to the Navy under an $80 million contract.

The giant defense contractor will deliver more than 450 infrared missile warning systems and 90 processors to the Naval Air Systems Command beginning in May 2011 and concluding in the second quarter of 2013. This equipment, which supports medium- and heavy-lift helicopter fleets, enables theater operations in previously denied areas due to threat conditions.

The system automatically detects a missile launch, determines whether it is a threat, and then activates a high-intensity laser-based countermeasure system to track and defeat the missile.

SAIC wins $80M award to support Goddard Space Flight Center

Science Applications International Corp. will provide IT services to NASA under a five-year subcontract valued at more than $80 million. The subcontract from Primus Solutions Inc. calls for SAIC to provide enhanced help desk and datacenter support, as well as support for financial management systems, application development and database administration at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The Goddard center is home to the nation’s largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists, and is a major U.S. laboratory for developing and operating unmanned scientific spacecraft.

7. Harris win calls for building ground antenna system and upgrades

Harris Corp. has won a 10-year, $130 million contract to build a ground antenna system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that will enable the agency to receive and process weather data 40 times faster than today, as well as deliver weather images directly to end users.

Harris and its teammates, General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies and ARES Corp., will supply the antennas and control systems for NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series-R program.

The antennas will provide communications links for command, telemetry and sensor data, as well as the communications link to direct data users.

6. Unisys contract supports rural development programs 

Unisys Corp. will provide applications modernization and end-user support services to the Agriculture Department under a five-year contract that could be worth as much as $150 million.

Under this indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, Unisys will support the USDA's Rural Development’s programs, including the Comprehensive Loan Program and other initiatives that provide financial assistance related to the U.S. Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The contract, which represents an expansion of Unisys’ work with the agency, covers all aspects of application software development, maintenance and operations to support the loan program, the company said.

Unisys' services will include analysis, software testing, help desk, standards compliance verification, disaster recovery support, systems programming, database management and training.

5. TASC captures $200M infrared Air Force contract 

TASC Inc. won a $200 million Air Force contract to work a space-based infrared system that is part of the U.S. missile defense system.

The contract was awarded by the Air Force’s Infrared Space Systems Wing and will initially go for three years.

TASC will work on several areas of the system, which is part of a missile early warming and defense system, including missile defense, battlespace awareness and technical intelligence.

The company will create and maintain the enterprise integrated technical baseline for Air Force Space Overhead Persistent Infrared system, It also will perform systems engineering and integration functions such as architecture development, verification and validation, and enterprise impact monitoring.

4. CSC wins $220M IT contract for Navy commands

Computer Sciences Corp. will provide information technology services to the Navy under a five-year contract that has an estimated total value of up to $220 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, CSC will provide a broad range of IT support, including network operations, real-time processing, enterprise data center, system development and maintenance, and hardware and software integration.

CSC will perform the work for the Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education Command and the Naval Education and Training Command at multiple Navy sites and cities across the United States.

3. Raytheon takes on upgrade of IT in Navy Ospreys

Raytheon Co. will provide information technology support for Navy V-22 aircraft under a five-year, $250 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

The award covers V-22 avionics systems software, situational awareness software and prototype hardware, and avionics acquisition support. The V-22 Osprey is a multi-mission aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capability that performs missions as effectively as a conventional helicopter while also having the long-range cruise abilities of a twin turboprop aircraft, according to a Navy description.

2. AT&T nabs Agriculture telecom deal
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2010/07/22/att-networx-usda-contract.aspx

AT&T Government Solutions won a $350 million Networx Universal task order from the Agriculture Department to provide USDA with IP virtual private network and managed security services.

The award is a major step toward transitioning the agency from the General Services Administration’s soon-to-expire FTS 2001 to its newer Networx telecommunications acquisition.

AT&T will complete a USDA-wide, managed IP network architecture that will let the agency extend shared services across a new, unified infrastructure, encompassing 29 USDA agencies and more than 5,000 geographically dispersed locations.

1. HP gets $3.4B Navy network transition deal

HP Enterprise Services will support the transition from the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet to a next-generation program under a contract potentially worth $3.4 billion over five years.

The continuity of service contract will provide critical engineering and support services during the transition scheduled to begin later this year from NMCI to the successor program known as the Next Generation Enterprise Network.

The $27 million base contract is for the purchase of a license to access NMCI intellectual property, DOD said. Task orders awarded through the continuity of service contract will be performed at 2,500 Navy and Marine Corps facilities in the United States and Japan.

The NMCI program, which began in 2000, supports more than 700,000 Navy and Marine Corps military and civilian employees. HP operates four network operations centers, three enterprise service desks, nearly 50 classified and unclassified server farms, and more than 4,100 enterprisewide servers.