Army awards $4B in infrastructure contracts

The Army awarded 10 contracts with a maximum value of $4 billion to modernize and upgrade the telecommunications infrastructure on Army bases in the next decade, bringing the total value of communications or hardware contacts the service has awarded in the past month to $29 billion.

The service said it plans to use the Infrastructure Modernization (IMOD) Program contracts awarded April 28 to integrate voice, data, cable plant, and transmission products and services into a single integrated base communications system.

IMOD “is one of my top priorities,” Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, the Army’s chief information officer. It “will enhance bandwidth and networking capabilities at posts, camps and stations worldwide.”

“IMOD is a great vehicle for modernizing our enterprise,” said Col. Tom Hogan, deputy program executive officer for infrastructure in the Army’s Program Office for Enterprise Information Systems. “Newer technologies will ensure standardization at the enterprise level.”

“By providing the latest in technology, we will be able to drive down cost while increasing capability,” he said.

The 10 companies that won indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts to compete for work under IMOD include carriers, integrators and equipment manufacturers.

The companies are: AT&T Government Solutions Avaya, Bechtel National, Engineering and Professional Services, Federal Network Systems, General Dynamics Network Systems, Lucent Technologies, NextiraOne, Science Applications International Corp., and Siemens Government Services.

IMOD is the third in a series of multibillion-dollar contracts the Army has awarded in the past month to upgrade its communications and computer systems.

Last week the Army awarded contacts worth a total of $5 billion to nine companies to ensure the service keeps current with desktop and mobile PCs in the next 10 years. In mid-April, the Army tapped 11 companies to vie for work on its Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-2 Services contract.

The Army plans to award a $10 billion contact for servers, storage devices and networking gear later this year under its ITES-2 Hardware contract.