DOD explores improved 'partners' info-sharing

The Defense Department has issued a follow-on request for proposals for a system that seeks to improve the ability of 27 democratic countries to share information.

The request seeks to enhance the existing Partnership for Peace Information Management System (PIMS) to create "reliable mechanisms for articulating interests, sharing information and resolving issues among the member states," according to the RFP, which was posted on Aug. 15. It has an estimated value in excess of $1 million, according to Federal Sources Inc., a McLean, Va., consulting firm. Proposals are due by Sept. 17. The existing contract is held by Computer Systems and Communications Corp., a unit of General Dynamics Corp.

The Partnership for Peace is a program that aims to strengthen relationships with friendly, allied and coalition partner nations — ranging from Russia to Poland — through the use of information technology.

The partnership was launched in January 1994 as a political and diplomatic innovation to "foster democracy and ensure common security functions among the newly independent states in order to manage conflicts and crises, as well as promote the peaceful settlement of disputes," according to the RFP.

PIMS is a cooperative development program, sponsored by the Defense Department, that seeks to extend a dedicated information and communications infrastructure throughout the Partnership for Peace community.

It is designed to provide services in response to the organization's needs through an intranet of shared databases with secure ties to the Internet, the RFP stated.

Contracting officer John Faye declined to comment on the project and instead pointed to the RFP.

PIMS serves as a repository for information of shared interest to Partnership for Peace countries, according to FSI data.

The RFP stresses that contractors must be able to integrate countries' existing PC infrastructures into the system.

Work to be performed under the new PIMS contract includes office automation; interactive data and file transfer; message handling and exchange; collaborative processing; scanning; and providing access to collaborative databases, online reference libraries and public information sources.

DOD is buying the system using the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service.