Guenther accepts TRW job

After recently leaving his job as federal chief for Computer Associates International Inc., Otto Guenther is moving to TRW Inc., where he will serve as vice president and general manager of the company's tactical systems division.

TRW spokeswoman Marynoele Benson confirmed that Guenther is joining the company's systems information technology group in that position April 2.

Guenther's joining TRW adds an interesting wrinkle to the recompetition of the Global Combat Support System-Army contract, after the Army stopped authorizing GRC International Inc. to perform work under the logistics contract.

Industry sources have said that TRW has an edge to win the contract because the company did a successful Web pilot for the program executive officer for Standard Army Management Information Systems, which manages GCSS-A.

T. Kevin Carroll, the program executive officer for STAMIS, said that the Army should award its GCSS-A blanket purchasing agreement by early April.

Guenther was the Army's first chief information officer and then spent three and a half years at Computer Associates. A receptionist at the CA Federal Systems Group's office in Herndon, Va., confirmed that Guenther left the company two weeks ago.

As a three-star general, Guenther served as the Army's director of information systems for command, control, communications and computers from 1995 to 1997. That position changed to chief information officer, following the passage of the Information Technology Management and Reform Act, which required each agency to appoint a CIO.

As a two-star general, he served as commander of the Army Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Before that, Guenther served as the Army's program executive officer for command, control and communications systems.

Guenther joined CA in August 1997 as its director of strategic initiatives, and he formed the company's Federal Systems Group in April 2000, after CA had purchased Sterling Software Inc. and Applied Management Systems Inc.