Featured eBooks
Open Season 2025 Guide
Health Tech
Space Trends
Insights & Reports
Access Management: Core to CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model 2.0
Presented By Carahsoft
Download Now
Identity Modernization for Government Service Excellence
Presented By Okta
Download Now
Technology 2007

Defense

Operations, Planning, Training and Resource Support Services for Warfighter Operations (OPTARSS) II

Army Forces Command

  • Estimated value: $30 billion
  • Phase: Request for proposals expected late summer 2007
  • Expected award date: Winter 2008

The Army component of Joint Forces Command requires a follow-up indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract centered on warfighter needs. OPTARSS II will comprise a number of IT-intensive areas, including modeling and simulation; command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) system management; and transformation support. The simulation spending category is the second largest under the current OPTARSS contract, which has been held by eight prime contractors, right after "other professional services," according to INPUT, a market analysis firm in Reston, Va.

Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) Omnibus Acquisition II

Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command

  • Estimated value: $7.5 billion
  • Phase: Solicitation expected summer 2007
  • Expected award date: Spring 2008

This heir to the Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command's first multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is almost double the value of the $4 billion original. STRICOM II, like its predecessor, which was awarded to 33 businesses, covers long-term simulation, training and instrument products and services, and is designed to reduce procurement administrative lead time. Program officials say they've got lead time down to 60 days, as opposed to a previous average of 180 days. The performance period of STRICOM II may be as long as 10 years.

I-ASSURE II

Defense Information Systems Agency

  • Estimated maximum value: $1.5 billion
  • Phase: Request for proposals expected winter 2007
  • Expected award date: Summer 2007

Hackers, apparently backed by the People's Republic of China, have spotlighted federal networks' vulnerability. Years of alleged Chinese attacks were exposed in 2005 and still might be ongoing. Unsurprisingly, the Defense Information Systems Agency, tasked with helping to protect the Defense Department's massive Global Information Grid, offers the largest information insurance contract vehicle in the federal government. I-ASSURE II will be similar to its predecessor contract, which expires in July 2007, DISA officials say. After Defense, the Homeland Security Department has been the largest I-ASSURE I customer, according to INPUT.

Program Management Support Services Two (PMSS2)

Army Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems

  • Estimated value: $500 million to $1 billion
  • Phase: Final solicitation expected in early 2007
  • Expected award date: Spring 2007

"Victory Through Information Dominance" is the motto of the Army's Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems, which develops, acquires and deploys tactical and nontactical IT systems. The slogan captures network-centric warfare in a nutshell, but the scope of systems the office supports ranges from logistics to training. The acquisition is a follow-on to blanket purchase agreements set to expire in September 2008 with BearingPoint in McLean, Va., and L-3 Communications Titan Group in New York. This time, the Army expects to award five indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for a period of seven to 10 years, though potential bidders should know that they could include on-site work done "in hazardous locations, such as Iraq," according to an Army procurement notice.

Movement Tracking System (MTS) II

Army Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems

  • Estimated value: $400 million
  • Phase: Request for proposals expected in spring 2007
  • Expected award date: Summer 2007

A system that integrates navigation, identification and communication technologies in a ruggedized package, MTS so far has been used to track combat service support vehicles in Iraq and elsewhere. This second major MTS buy should expand implementation further and increase the system's functions, including shared situational awareness with Blue Force Tracking, the military's tactical combat tracking system. "MTS went like gangbusters; we couldn't put enough of them in the vehicles," says Kevin Carroll, head of the Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems. Over the eight-year life span of MTS II, other agencies also could buy systems.