Telos gets Coast Guard communications contract

The Coast Guard has awarded Telos and Xacta, its subsidiary for security solutions, a contract to provide a secure messaging system for the Coast Guard’s 45,000 users. The deal is valued at a minimum of $600,000, but contract options could potentially raise the total to $3 million over four years, according to a company announcement.

Under terms of the contract, the Xacta Automated Message Handling System will become the enterprise messaging solution for the Coast Guard. It is an encrypted, scalable Web-based system that gives thousands of simultaneous users access to a secure messaging infrastructure without the need for additional external identification. Users will include Coast Guard commands ashore and at sea.

Telos will engineer, install and support the system.

The system is used widely throughout the Defense Department, Telos said. The Coast Guard system makes it possible to securely send and track official communications for command and control electronic messaging, transmit messages from one organization to another, provide orders or direction to the receiving organization, and transmit officially recognized intelligence information.

“The Coast Guard came to us with very detailed specifications for their messaging solution,” said Frank Whitehead, senior vice president of operations at Telos, in a statement. “As Telos already provides secure messaging for the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, we were well positioned to meet the stringent requirements of the Coast Guard.”