Industry News
EDS Awarded $68 Million Contract Extension by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Representatives of EDS announced it has been awarded a $68 million contract extension by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), an organization within the U.S. Department of Justice, to provide day-to-day seat management services under the ATF Enterprise Standard Architecture III (ESA III) contract. Services provided by EDS include hardware/software acquisition, desktop PC maintenance and support; application server management; messaging; peripherals; local area network management; overall system security; help desk services; disaster recovery planning and preparation; and new technology insertion.
The ESA III contract was created to use information technology (IT) to enhance the ATF's ability to conduct its mission to enforce the federal laws and regulations relating to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives and arson. ATF awarded the initial five-year, $300 million ESA III contract to EDS in December 2003. The newly awarded contract extension will begin when the initial term of the contract expires in December 2008 and will run through December 2010.
The contract extension will give the ATF greater flexibility as it transitions employees to a Microsoft Vista operating system environment. ATF desktop systems will be refreshed in 2008 with hardware capable of running Microsoft Vista, allowing ATF employees to transition to the new operating system as they become ready. EDS Agility Alliance partners Sun Microsystems and EMC are providing products and services to ATF under the ESA III contract.
The ESA contract is flexible enough to accommodate advances in technology and to build an infrastructure that works better, costs less, and reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT assets. By allowing EDS to manage their IT services, ATF is reducing TCO while improving performance and customer satisfaction. The overall goal of the contract is to provide essential hardware and software products along with the services necessary to facilitate continued mission effectiveness for agents, inspectors, scientists, and administrative support staff nationwide.
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General Dynamics Awarded $20 Million for M1A1 Abrams Reset
The U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, a US$20 million delivery order as part of a $37 million contract to reset 36 M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) main battle tanks.
The reset process restores used equipment to combat level capability. The reset tanks will feature improved technology that will bolster crew situational awareness. The upgrades include second-generation Forward-Looking Infrared, Far Target Locate, a tank-infantry phone and driver's vision enhancement. The improvements increase the M1A1 Abrams tank's fighting capability by providing soldiers with an electronic graphic of the battlefield that features icons for friendly and enemy forces and provides a tank commander's thermal sight for the .50 caliber machine gun.
Work will be performed in Anniston, Ala.; Tallahassee, Fla., Lima, Ohio; and Scranton, Pa., by existing General Dynamics employees, and is expected to be completed by November 2008.
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Nortel Wins $39 Million Award from Homeland Security
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded Nortel Government Solutions, a U.S. company wholly owned by Nortel, an estimated US$39 million contract to substantially increase program management support for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
This is expected to help make USCIS more flexible and cost-effective in carrying out its mandate by augmenting USCIS staff with highly-skilled program management specialists.
Nortel Government Solutions will provide program management, acquisition and administrative support services to USCIS through November 2011. This continues a relationship that began with the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) more than 20 years ago.
Under the new contract, Nortel Government Solutions, which recently completed a one-year support agreement with USCIS, will double to 10 the number of USCIS offices supported and more than triple to 77 the staff providing such services as procurement strategy development and execution, project planning and scheduling, and day-to-day reporting, purchasing, database management and other administrative tasks.