Lockheed snares $210M telecom pact

Lockheed Martin Technical Services last week captured a five-year, $210.4 million contract to provide telecommunications and computing support services for the Environmental Protection Agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters, adding the win to a $259 million pact it received in October 1997 to support the agency's North Carolina-based National Computer Center and regional offices nationwide.

The company was the incumbent contractor on the vehicle that preceded the Washington Telecommunications and Computing Support (Washington TACS) and the National Telecommunications and Computing Support (National TACS) contracts. Another telecommunications contract, currently held by DynCorp, will be incorporated into Washington TACS and National TACS but probably not until it expires in September 1999, according to EPA project officer Dwight Rodgers.

Finishing Projects

Wendy Owen, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, said one task for the company under Washington TACS will be to finish setting up employees' desktop equipment and related networks at the EPA's new offices in the Federal Triangle office complex in downtown Washington. Under the previous contract, Lockheed Martin installed equipment for 2,000 of 7,000 users, and another 1,500 employees are scheduled to move in by summer.

Close Competition

OAO Corp., which lost to Lockheed Martin in the National TACS competition, was the only other finalist, according to OAO and the EPA. Bob Lohfeld, senior vice president with OAO, said he was surprised the EPA awarded both contracts to the same vendor. "They own EPA," he said.

Rodgers said the competition was close, but Lockheed Martin "was a clear winner."

To date, Lockheed Martin has been running the EPA's help-desk operations, its network control center and its mainframe print facility in Washington. That work will continue under Washington TACS.