Logicon revamps I-CASE software and hardware

The Defense Department's Integrated Computer-Aided Software Engineering contract is poised to offer software development, database and workstation products at prices designed to beat the General Services Administration schedule.

Earlier this month Logicon Inc., the I-CASE prime contractor, added Texas Instruments Inc.'s Composer development toolkit and will soon add Logic Works Inc.'s line of business process modeling products. Other products scheduled to arrive on I-CASE include Sybase's PowerBuilder client/server development tool, Rational Software Corp.'s Ada and C++ development tools, and Oracle Corp.'s Developer, Designer and Discoverer 2000 tools, according to Vince Steckler, manager of I-CASE marketing and sales at Logicon. The contract also carries Sybase's database management system and Oracle7.

In hardware, Logicon is negotiating with DOD to add Sun Microsystems Inc.'s SPARC-station 1000, 2000 and Ultra workstations as well as Sun's network servers. The contract currently offers Sun's SPARC 5 and 20 workstations.

The product additions will broaden I-CASE's scope from its original Unix/Ada orientation, Steckler said. I-CASE, awarded to Logicon in 1994, had been envisioned as a vehicle for automating large-scale software development. But the emergence of smaller, client/server development efforts, coupled with DOD's growing commercial off-the-shelf thrust, compelled DOD and Logicon to consider a different approach, industry executives said.

Pricing on the revised product lineup will be based on a percentage discount off the GSA schedule or list pricing, Steckler said. Discounts vary by product and by the size of a given order. Logicon, for example, is offering discounts of up to 16.86 percent on purchases of Texas Instruments development tools totaling $400,000 and more. A 3 percent discount is applied to purchases of up to $300,000 and 9.93 percent for buys between $300,001 and $399,999.

Michael Dillard, general manager of Texas Instruments' government operations, said the renewed I-CASE pact will place his company in a good position with DOD customers as the firm "rolls out new products and capabilities."

A similar discount schedule will apply to Logic Works' business process re-engineering tools. Logic Works will offer its ERwin IDEF1x modeling tool and the Applications Object Server, the multiuser version of ERwin, according to Michael Norton, vice president of Logic Works' Federal Division. The firm's BPwin BPR tool will also be on the pact.

Sun hardware, meanwhile, will be "priced lower than GSA and lower than other comparable vehicles," Steckler said. The hardware can be purchased separately from I-CASE software offerings. The only constraint is that the hardware must be used for development or operation, test and evaluation.

Amid the new products, Logicon will maintain its Logicase integrated case solution, which features a number of products, including Cadre Technologies Inc.'s Teamwork development products. "Integration is still very much a thrust of the contract," Steckler said.

Another new I-CASE feature is applications software. Oracle, for example, is offering its human resources software and has already found demand for its wares. In a three-phase project reportedly worth up to $25 million, Oracle will build the new Civilian Personnel Data System for the Office of the Secretary of Defense while upgrading the Air Force's Personnel Data System. The software, maintenance and services are being acquired through I-CASE.

Logicon plans to add Oracle Financials to I-CASE as well, Steckler said. Texas Instruments is offering purchasing and logistics applications.