Lockheed wins $525M SSA deal

Social Security Administration officials have awarded Lockheed Martin a seven-year contract valued at $525 million for information technology services. The contract emphasizes SSA's needs for software engineering and testing skills.

Lockheed Martin is the incumbent IT support contractor at SSA, having been selected for two previous agencywide contracts since 1989. The new contract is an extension of the work the company has been doing for SSA, said Michael Leff, senior program manager at Lockheed Martin. "It consummates our 15 years with them."

Lockheed Martin officials described the latest award as a time-and-materials contract, which is frequently used in the private sector but less often in the federal government. Under such contracts, companies are paid for the time they work and the cost of materials they use, instead of receiving a fixed amount.

In the contract solicitation, SSA officials asked for a wide range of software engineering, application design and database skills. The contract required the winning bidder to have a CMM Level 3 rating, a reference to the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model, which is a measure of an organization's ability to produce high-quality software.

Other companies will participate in the contract. Among them are Apptis, BAE Systems Information Technology, CPSI, ESS, Global Commerce and Information, Pointe Technology Group, RS Information Systems, and SM Consulting.