4 Nov 02. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded a single blanket purchase agreement (BPA) by the U.S. General Services Administration, Federal Technology Service, on behalf of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Under the terms of the BPA, Northrop Grumman IT will provide
information technology (IT) infrastructure and IT support services, a
key element in assisting the border enforcement and immigration
benefits missions of the agency. The contract, the INS Technology Enterprise Automation Management Support program, has a potential value of $228m over five years to Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology sector.

U.S. State & Local governments will spend at least $8bn on IT initiatives in the Public Safety and Criminal Justice market segment in 2003, according to INPUT, the essential sales and marketing resource for technology vendors. Largely due to the need for homeland security initiatives, this vertical segment will account for over 20% of total State & Local IT spending.

“State and Local governments are focused on purchasing technology that will allow them to create seamless networks for communication among Public Safety and Criminal Justice departments,” said Meredith Luttner, the manager of State and Local Database Services at INPUT. “Interoperability among these entities has always been important, but since September 11, 2001, it has become absolutely crucial.”

INPUT’s analysis reveals that Public Safety departments are spending the majority of their IT dollars on networks and systems that allow agencies to communicate with one another, particularly in emergency situations. Criminal Justice spending, on the other hand, is primarily on software systems that allow consolidated information storage and sharing among agencies.