10 Sep 04. The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract to provide information technology products and services for the Air Force’s Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) program. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), and General Dynamics are among sven major contractors to benefit from this award. The complete list is given here: Centech Group, Arlington, Va.; Multimax, Largo, Md., NCI,Reston, Va.; Northrop Grumman, McLean, Va.; Booz-Allen
Hamilton, McLean, Va.; General Dynamics, Needham, Mass., and Lockheed Martin, Manassas, Va., were awarded on Sept. 10, 2004, The contract is worth $9bn for an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.
Network-Centric (NETCENTS)involves the provision of Information Technology, Networking, Telephony and Security, Voice, Video and Data Communications Commercial-off-the-Shelf products, system solutions and systems hardware and software to satisfy the requirements for interoperability, compatibility, and resource sharing of both Government Furnished Equipment and Contractor Furnished Equipment, supporting the Global Information Grid architecture. This work will be complete by September 2009. Solicitation began April 2004. The Headquarters Standard Systems Group, Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Ala., is the contracting activity (FA8771-04-D-0002 – 0009).
Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector will compete for task orders that will include network engineering, software development, IT infrastructure modernization, integration, and sustainment, information storage and management, security and telephone services, and voice, video, and data communications products.
“We have built our NETCENTS team around our experience serving the Air
Force on the Unified Local Area Network Architecture and Combat Information Transport programs, and our first-class team of partners offers unmatched capability to help the Air Force with its mission requirements, said James O’Neill, president of Northrop Grumman IT. “We look forward to assisting the
Air Force with modernizing their infrastructure as they move toward more network-centric solutions.”
Work on the contract will be performed at all permanent Air Force locations as well as the expeditionary Air Force requirements on a global basis.
“Northrop Grumman, as a company, has extended global reach and depth of capability,” adds O’Neill. “This translates into lower risk and reduced cost for the government, plus the ability to undertake complex tasks with global coverage. We have the team that can lead the Air Force to future technology with industry leaders in such areas as voice-over-internet protocol.”
Northrop Grumman announced its NETCENTS team on Aug. 10, and includes 10 big-business partners and 24 small-business partners. The company’s big- business partners include: Computer Sciences Corporation, El Segundo, Calif.; SAIC, San Diego; BearingPoint Inc. and RS Information Systems, Inc., McLean, Va.; Siemens AG, Munich, Germany; T-Systems, Frankfurt, Germany; Verizon Communications and AT&T, New York, N.Y.; Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas; and SI International, Inc., Reston, Va.
Under the NETCENTS contract, General Dynamics and its partners will offer system integration solutions and services enabling the enhancement of Air Force data networks, telephony, security, and information technology. Additionally, nearly 80,000 COTS IT products will be available.
“General Dynamics is an established systems integrator with proven management and engineering expertise,” said Mike Chandler, president of General Dynamics Network Systems. “Our team has over 84,000 highly-qualified cleared people and 63 technology labs bringing broad technology innovation and a global presence that can surge to meet the mission critical requirements of the Air Force and other government customers.”
The General Dynamics team has been the provider of critical Air Force communications around the globe,