Marines add $7M to General Dynamics contract

Marine Corps Systems Command Web site

Last week, Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., awarded a contract modification worth nearly $7 million to General Dynamics Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz., for work supporting connectivity to Marines in Iraq.

In 2002, General Dynamics won a $13.4 million contract to provide an integrated package that includes shelter, power, cabling, local-area networks and processing systems. The Unit Operations Center hosts Marine Corps mission application software and provides an interface to the Marines' communications assets.

The contract modification, announced July 2, comes as a result of feedback received from Marines and sailors in-theater.

Through what the Marines call an urgent Universal Need Statement the Unit Operations Centers are being deployed to the desert. The statement is a program the service can use to rapidly field technology and equipment to forces in combat zones.

The contract follow-on effort is for the preparation, refurbishment, spares and support of currently deployed units.

Work will be performed in Scottsdale and in-theater, and is expected to be completed by October.

The Unit Operations Center program is designed to develop a modern, standardized, digital combat operations center for the Marine air-ground task force. The program collaborates, tests and validates system design and employment issues.