DISA to offer four contracts totaling $610 million

The Defense Information Systems Agency is expected to release the final request late this week for proposals for a $610 million-dollar, multiple-award services contract for DISA's engineering organization.

DISA's Joint Interoperability & Engineering Organization (JIEO) System Engineering Support Services procurement will provide a range of systems engineering, systems development and business process re-engineering services. Many task areas involve support for the Defense Information Infrastructure's Common Operating Environment, according to DISA's draft statement of work for the procurement.

Four Contracts in Play

DISA plans to award at least four contracts: one large prime contract and three awards reserved for small businesses. One of the small-business awards will be for an 8(a) company. The contracts will last five years and have a ceiling of $610 million.

The JIEO contract will consolidate a number of contract vehicles, according to Chris Milner, an analyst with Federal Sources Inc. of McLean, Va. Those vehicles include DISA Center for Information Management Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (CIM SETA) contracts awarded in 1993. Abacus Technology Corp., CACI Inc., Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) are prime contractors on CIM SETA, which is set to expire in 1998.

The contract will also absorb requirements for a JIEO engineering-services contract awarded to Logicon Inc. in 1991. That contract is scheduled to expire in October but may be extended.

According to DISA, the new JIEO contract is not a direct follow-on to Logicon's engineering-services contract. But in response to prospective bidder inquiries, the agency said that the JIEO contract will "address work" performed under the Logicon pact, CIM SETA and other contracts.

Leading Contenders

According to industry sources, Logicon and SAIC are among the contenders for the large-business slot. Officials at those companies could not be reached for comment at press time.

A spokesman for Computer Science Corp.(CSC) said his company plans to team with SAIC. CSC is the leading vendor in terms of revenue on DISA's Defense Enterprise Integration Services contract.

A spokesman for Litton/PRC said his company is "considering whether to prime" on the JIEO deal. CACI "does not expect to prime" on the JIEO pact but is seeking "a prominent role" on a bidding.

I-Net Inc. is "looking at" the JIEO deal but has not made a final decision on whether to bid, according to a company spokeswoman.

One option for large businesses is to team with a small business, sources said last week.

DISA, however, requires the small-business primes to handle at least half the tasks commissioned under the contract.

Proposals on the JIEO pact are due July 29 with an award slated for Oct. 31.

According to a DISA notice, "Successful offerers will provide support in all areas of Information Systems Engineering, including architecture, technical integration, standards, business process, functional process improvement, data administration, hardware/software development and maintenance, product assurance, rapid prototyping, test and evaluation, and installation and fielding."

DISA will evaluate bidders on the basis of past performance, technical/program management, personnel, corporate capabilities and proposed cost.