SRA tapped to manage Army nets

The Army recently awarded an enterprise systems management contract to SRA International Inc. for ongoing information technology transformation work at the Military District of Washington (MDW).

The work is part of an Armywide program aimed at reducing the cost of maintaining systems and improving access to information and applications.

The Army Communications-Electronics Command's Acquisition Center in Washington, D.C., awarded the task order to SRA in mid-July and work has already begun, said Catherine Doolos, acting program manager for enterprise infostructure in the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems.

"Enterprise systems management is an integral component of the Army's overall [Army Enterprise Infostructure Transformation] program with objectives to reduce the costs of maintaining information systems Armywide and integrating knowledge management concepts and best practices into Army processes," Doolos said.

The contract, which is valued at $1.4 million for six months, is being carried out at the Army's Network Operations Center at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and within MDW, which is serving as an overall proof of concept for the Army Enterprise Infostructure Transformation (AEIT), she said.

David Kriegman, senior vice president and director of defense information systems at SRA, said the contractor team, which includes NCI Information Systems Inc. and SNVC, will provide:

* Documentation of MDW enterprise systems management requirements.

* Design and architecture development.

* Network and security management.

* Development of a centralized help desk.

"This is a really good opportunity to take our [enterprise systems management] practice knowledge...and our 20 years of experience with the Army...and apply it to an important initiative," Kriegman said.

SRA also conducts work at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and helps operate the National Guard's intranet, known as GuardNet, and those experiences will also help the company fulfill its new MDW contract obligations, Kriegman said. He added that SRA was on schedule to provide MDW with two deliverables two weeks ago: a map of its current systems and toolkit alternatives for the future.

Looking ahead, Army officials plan to release a request for proposals this fall for the $500 million IT Enterprise Solutions (ITES) contract, which is designed to "meet the evolving requirements for commercial IT products and services to support the Army's worldwide mission," Kevin Carroll, the program executive officer for the Army's Enterprise Information Systems, said earlier this year.

An indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, ITES will have up to three contractors in each of three modules: enterprise total solutions, which encompasses the full suite of technology; commodity servers; and corporate services. Contractors can bid on one or multiple modules, Carroll said.

Like the latest enterprise systems management award to SRA, the ITES program will also build on concepts being tested in the ongoing transformation work at MDW, Carroll said.