Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
The General Services Administration has announced the selection of 59 firms for award under the $50 billion Alliant information technology contract. Alliant is a government-wide acquisition contract, providing federal agencies a centralized source to acquire integrated information technology solutions worldwide. The contract has a five-year base period, with one five-year renewal option. It provides streamlined access to a broad range of management and technical support services, enabling complex IT solutions to be acquired under a multiple award, indefinite delivery, and indefinite quantity contract. The Alliant contract offers the same scope of solutions offered by the recently awarded Alliant small business contract set aside for exclusive small business participation. Alliant supports goals for streamlining acquisition processes and delivering cost-effective IT solutions to federal government agencies to improve service and increase efficiency. It also supports objectives of the federal enterprise architecture program. The Alliant contract was developed within the framework prescribed by the IT investment budget guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
The companies are Abacus Technology; Accenture National Security Services; Advanced Management Technology; Advanced Technology Systems; Alion Science and Technology; Alliant Solutions; American Systems; Analytical Services; Apptis; ARINC Engineering Services; ARTEL; AT&T Government Solutions; BAE Systems Information Technology; BAE Systems Science and Technology; BearingPoint; Booz Allen Hamilton; CACI; Centech Group; CGI Federal; Client Network Services; Communication Technologies; CSC; Dynamics Research; Electronic Data Systems; Engineering and Professional Services; Federal Network Systems; General Dynamics One Source; Harris; Honeywell Technology Solutions; INDUS; IBM; ITS; Keane Federal Systems; L-3 Services; LGS Innovations; Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems; MacAulay-Brown; ManTech Advanced Systems International; McNeil Technologies; NCI Information Systems; Nortel Government Solutions; Perot Systems Government Services; Professional Software Engineering; Raytheon; SAIC; Serco; Smartronix; Southwest Research Institute; Stanley Associates; STG; SYS; SRA; TASC; TKC Communications; Trantech; TYBRIN; Unisys; Vangent; and Wyle Information Systems.
Seabees Order Deployable SATCOM Terminals
Harris has been selected to supply additional Rugged Deployable Satellite Communications Terminals (RDSATs) to the Navy First Construction Division (Seabees) under a two-year, $30 million follow-on order. The new terminals, along with previously purchased terminals, will provide the Navy with advanced, multiband satellite reach-back capabilities from around the globe to command centers in the United States. The Harris satellite communications terminals are capable of communicating with satellite constellations operating in commercial C- and Ku-bands as well as with military constellations operating in X-band. Additionally, a standard upgrade is available to support Ka-band operations with the Wideband Global SATCOM system constellation. The RDSAT AN/ USC-65(V)5 features a 2.5-meter ring-focus antenna and pedestal. Its components are integrated into weather-resistant, ruggedized transit cases, resulting in a transportable terminal that is lightweight, yet expandable.
Contracts Fund Commercial X-Band Satellite Services
Arrowhead Global Solutions, the government services division of CapRock Communications, has been awarded two multimilliondollar contracts to provide over 200 MHz of commercial X-band satellite services to two U.S. government agencies. The satellite services will utilize the XTAR-EUR and XTAR-LANT satellites that are reserved exclusively for government and military applications. The wins mark two of the largest single awards of commercial X-band satellite services and come just two months after CapRock’s government solutions division unveiled the industry’s first commercial X-band-managed service offering. To support the missions of its government clients, Arrowhead has made significant investments in X-band teleport infrastructure and satellite capacity, signing a strategic agreement with XTAR that includes multiple transponders on its X-band fleet. Arrowhead’s new end-to-end commercial X-band satellite solutions are part of a strategic initiative to accelerate the company’s evolution as a provider of value-added managed services specifically for the military, intelligence and civilian government communities.
Contract Supports Technical Document Digitization
Alion Science and Technology has been awarded Technical Area Tasks valued at nearly $2.1 million under the Weapon Systems Technology Information Analysis Center (WSTIAC) and the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Testing Information Analysis Center (AMMTIAC) contracts to digitize documents for the Defense Technical Information Center’s (DTIC) Total Electronic Migration System (TEMS). Alion’s support is part of a larger DTIC effort to migrate scientific and technical data from its information analysis centers (IAC) to electronic format on TEMS, which contains fully searchable electronic reports and enables users to review large quantities of data in an automated fashion. The IACs house libraries of information that are focused on specific technology areas. In addition to the libraries of information, Alion has subject matter experts for weapons systems and advanced materials, manufacturing and testing technologies located on site at the WSTIAC and AMMTIAC facilities.
Software Assurance Center Targets Vulnerabilities
Telos has received a $6.7 million task order increase under the NETCENTS contract to provide software licenses, training classes and services in support of the Air Force Application Software Assurance Center of Excellence (ASACoE), located at Gunter Annex, Maxwell AFB, Ala. This brings the modified delivery order value to $15 million. ASACoE ensures application security best practices are incorporated across the Air Force, which is meeting its mission of addressing cyber security by identifying critical vulnerabilities and securing Air Force applications. With the additional security provided by the center, the Air Force is better able to defend against applicationlevel attacks, protecting sensitive information. In 2008, ASACoE conducted over 125 software assurance assessments and identified numerous vulnerabilities. The assessments were conducted jointly with the AF program developers in order to make the assessment process part of the software development life cycle. This effort supports the “build it in” framework being discussed across the application security community.
Navy Deploys Common Network Interface System
The Navy has successfully deployed the General Dynamics-developed Common Network Interface (CNI) system on the USS Boxer (LHD 4). The system improves situational awareness for expeditionary strike group commanders by fusing stovepiped battle management systems into a single integrated tactical picture. Based on an open architecture framework, CNI enables continuous warfighter-driven improvements and facilitates more effective interoperability with other ships in the fleet. The Common Network Interface system uses the rapid capability insertion process, providing more capability at a faster rate than a traditional development process through frequent software upgrade cycles. The submarine community successfully uses this process for its technology refresh cycles. Developed in a series of “flights,” each deployment of CNI will insert additional tactical capability and improve the user interface without incurring high costs associated with dismantling and reinstalling entire systems. In the future, this system will also provide a single integrated display of correlated radar and link picture.
Army Orders Next Generation Blue Force Tracking Transceivers
ViaSat has received an order from the Army for initial production of the next generation Blue Force Tracking (BFT-2) transceivers for the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) satellite network upgrade. The units have demonstrated dramatic improvements in situational awareness accuracy and timeliness by reducing system latency, and providing lower cost-per-bit transmission and increased network capacity through an eight-times improvement in satellite efficiency. This next generation BFT transceiver also has been designed and tested to rigorous MIL-spec standards for ruggedness and reliability. The order is a follow-on to multiple successful demonstrations of the new high-performance prototype BFT-2 satellite communications network, based on the ViaSat ArcLight network technology. The initial production units will support FBCB2–BFT-2 joint Army and Marine Corps field and operational testing, scheduled to begin in mid-2009.
UAV Surveillance Needs Spur Satellite Repositioning
Intelsat General has been awarded a multiyear contract under which Intelsat will reposition one of the company’s satellites halfway around the globe to serve military units in Iraq and Afghanistan. Following an urgent call from the Pentagon’s joint staff on February 6, Intelsat responded with a solution to reposition one of its domestic U.S. satellites, Galaxy 26, to a new orbital location in the Indian Ocean region. Intelsat began moving Galaxy 26 from its orbital slot at 93º W to its new position on February 20, once the existing commercial traffic assigned to the spacecraft had been shifted to another Intelsat satellite. Intelsat was able to begin drifting the Galaxy 26 satellite into its new orbital position only two weeks after the Department of Defense request. The contract, awarded through Artel’s Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services-Global contract, will fill a military bandwidth void supporting UAV surveillance operations. The repositioned Intelsat satellite will support launch and flight operations of UAVs deployed in the war zones, as well as other U.S. and NATO military operations in an area reaching from Germany to Southeast Asia. The contract calls for up to 432 MHz of bandwidth using 12 Ku-band transponders operating on the Galaxy 26 satellite, which had most recently been serving North America. The satellite, using wide-beam capability, can support up to 40 UAV sorties simultaneously. ♦
