Missile defense contracts awarded

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently awarded two information technology-heavy contracts: One will aid the ground-based portion of the Ballistic Missile Defense System, and the other will help establish an enterprise information management system within the agency.

The MDA last month awarded Computer Sciences Corp. a follow-on contract for scientific, engineering and technical support of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Joint Program Office.

Under the agreement, CSC will continue to assist the Joint Program Office in the execution of the GMD element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System with services including:

* Web engineering and IT support.

* Acquisition and business management.

* Systems engineering, testing and evaluation.

* Program protection and site activation.

The contract, which includes a two-year base period and a one-year option, was awarded Oct. 18 and is valued at more than $270 million if all options are exercised.

Aaron Fuller, vice president and general manager of CSC's advanced missile defense and Navy/Marine Corps unit, said the company's work "will help the government achieve its goals of establishing a test bed by Sept. 30, 2004."

CSC and its subcontractors - which include Science Applications International Corp.; SY Coleman, a division of L-3 Communications Inc.; and Colsa Corp. - will perform most of the work in Washington, D.C.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Colorado Springs, Colo.

Elsewhere in missile defense news, SRA International Inc. this week announced that it has been awarded a competitive task order to provide information architecture and engineering support to help establish an information management system for the MDA. SRA will assist MDA in designing - and if optional tasks are exercised - prototyping an enterprisewide information management system that will enable the agency to better organize, use and store business and mission information for improved collaboration and decision-making.

The SRA team includes Anteon Corp., ACS Defense Inc., Miltec Corp., Phacil Inc. and Vanguard Research Inc.

The task order, awarded under the Millennia contract by the General Services Administration's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center, has an estimated value of $20 million over 30 months if all options are exercised.