Northrop gains $141M follow-on award for DOD ID system

Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a follow-on task order by the Defense Department valued at up to $141 million to continue developing an automated identification system to be used to spot suspected threats to U.S. national security.

The Department of Defense Automated Biometric Identification System (DOD-ABIS) will provide military personnel with reliable and timely identification of persons of suspected threat to U.S. national security, according to the May 24 Northrop Grumman announcement.

Under the terms of the task order, Northrop Grumman will provide systems engineering, software development, infrastructure and performance engineering, and modeling and simulation support.

The giant defense contractor also will have primary development responsibility of DOD-ABIS including program management, systems engineering, software development, integration, training, disaster recovery, case management, system sustainment, scalability and interoperability.

DOD-ABIS is the central repository and authoritative source for Defense Department multi-modal (face, fingerprint, iris and palm) biometric identity records for persons of interest. The network-centric system is accessible worldwide and interfaces with other federal agency data systems, the Northrop Grumman statement explained.

Northrop Grumman was awarded the initial ABIS development contract in 2006.

The task order was awarded under the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 2 Services indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract by the Army Contracting Command - National Capital Region.

Northrop Grumman's teammates include Booz Allen Hamilton, Science Applications International Corp., Six3 Systems, SRA International, E&M Technologies, NEW-BOLD Enterprises, Ultra-scan Corp., MPL Corp., and STS International.

The company will perform the work in Fairmont, W.Va., and Fairfax, Va., over one base year with four, one-year option periods

Northrop Grumman Corp., of Los Angeles, ranks No. 2 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.