The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected a team led by Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to manage and operate the new Mission Support Contract at its Hanford site in south central Washington State. The latest DOE determination was made following a protest lodged by a competing bidder and a review last fall by the Government Accountability Office.

With a total program value of $3.059 billion over a 10-year period, the contract includes a five-year base contract period and options to extend it to an additional five years. Lockheed Martin is joined in the limited liability company, Mission Support Alliance (MSA) by partners Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., and Wackenhut Services, Inc. They will also be supported by several small teammates. MSA LLC had been notified in September, 2008, that it had won the contract.

Under the leadership of Lockheed Martin’s Frank Figueroa, MSA LLC President, the team will provide integrated site-wide services to the DOE and other contractors at the Hanford site, such as safety, security and environment, site infrastructure and utilities, site business management, information resources and content management and portfolio management.

The existing Information Resources Management services work at Hanford, now being performed by Lockheed Martin under a subcontract to Fluor Hanford, Inc., will continue under the Mission Support Contract. Frank Armijo, who has successfully led Hanford IRM and other Tri-Cities, Washington-based technology programs, will remain in his role supporting MSA and leading the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Solutions unit in Richland.

“We are gratified that the U.S. Government has made its determination, and we are ready to begin,” Tom Grumbly, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Energy and Security Services in Rockville, Md. “The team has maintained a high state of readiness to effect a smooth transition and an efficient, progressive path forward for the DOE, its contractors, and the community in the Tri-Cities,” he said.

In addition to mission support for energy labs, Lockheed Martin is working with its customers to address the nation’s energy and climate challenges in the areas of energy efficiency, management and storage, next-generation alternative energies, and climate monitoring.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion. www.lmco.com

On June 15, 2009, the U.S. Department of State awarded DynCorp International (NYSE:DCP) a task order to provide aviation and aviation support services in Iraq. This task order is under the Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) contract with the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security to provide protective security for U.S. diplomatic personnel. The task order is awarded for a base year plus four one-year options, and has a total potential value of $915 million if all options are exercised.

Under the task order, DynCorp International will provide personnel, ground and flight operations, basing and maintenance of rotary wing and fixed air assets. The award is effective June 15, 2009, with a transition period and then full in-country performance beginning September 4, 2009.

“This award is a tremendously important opportunity for DynCorp International to support the safety and security of U.S. diplomatic personnel serving in Iraq,” said DynCorp International CEO William L. Ballhaus. “It’s an honor to contribute to our government’s efforts to promote peace and stability in Iraq, for us as a company and for every person who serves with us."

About DynCorp International
DynCorp International is a provider of specialized mission-critical services to civilian and military government agencies worldwide, and operates major programs in law enforcement training and support, security services, base operations, aviation services, contingency operations, and logistics support. DynCorp International is headquartered in Falls Church, Va. For more information, visit www.dyn-intl.com .

The era of governmentwide acquisition contracts might be coming to a close at the General Services Administration.

Speaking at the Washington Technology Top 100 conference today, Ed O’Hare, assistant commissioner of the Office of Integrated Technology Services at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the only GWACs GSA will continue supporting are Alliant and Alliant Small Business or vehicles targeted to companies in specific socioeconomic categories, such as minority-owned businesses.

For the long term, GSA will likely merge the GWAC program with the schedules. “But that will take years, not months,” he added.

O’Hare said the merger of the procurement programs became a possibility after GSA combined the Federal Supply Service, which managed the schedules, and the Federal Technology Service, which managed GSA’s stable of GWAC contracts.

The era of governmentwide acquisition contracts might be coming to a close at the General Services Administration.

Speaking at the Washington Technology Top 100 conference today, Ed O’Hare, assistant commissioner of the Office of Integrated Technology Services at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the only GWACs GSA will continue supporting are Alliant and Alliant Small Business or vehicles targeted to companies in specific socioeconomic categories, such as minority-owned businesses.

For the long term, GSA will likely merge the GWAC program with the schedules. “But that will take years, not months,” he added.

O’Hare said the merger of the procurement programs became a possibility after GSA combined the Federal Supply Service, which managed the schedules, and the Federal Technology Service, which managed GSA’s stable of GWAC contracts.

Phasing out GWACs was partly a response to criticism and a growing sense that there were too many GWACs, he said.

“We know that each GWAC is time-consuming and expensive to respond to,” he said.

GWACs that are expiring, such as Millennia Lite, will not be renewed. Instead, Alliant and Alliant Small Business will fill the void, O’Hare said. Those contracts have a $50 billion ceiling over 10 years, meaning they will still be in use through 2018.

O’Hare was part of a panel at the annual Top 100 conference. Moderated by Bill Gormley, president and chief executive officer of the Washington Management Group, the panel focused on whether the Obama administration is creating a new federal market.

Mike Fox, senior vice president of corporate strategic development at SRA International, voiced support for agency-specific multiple-award contracts.

“Those have real value because they are designed to meet specific agency needs,” he said. “But we don’t need GWACs with 50 or 60 winners. Then it looks just like a schedule.”' Click here original news release  http://tr.im/pSjs

Wanted: A contracting team that can build roads and remote campsites, maintain information technology systems and complex scientific equipment, support laboratory and field research tasks, efficiently transport cargo, fly fixed-wing aircraft, prevent and fight fires, cook meals, cut hair, and plan fun and morale-building activities while working in a sometimes sunless environment at sub-zero temperatures.

Does that sound appealing? Maybe not for everyone, but the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Support Contract has drawn the attention of a large number of traditional defense and IT contractors. The contract is in the competition phase and is scheduled for award in early October.

Although NSF won’t divulge the names of the bidders, Computer Sciences Corp. has formed a joint venture with EG&G to pursue the contract, and incumbent contractor Raytheon Co. is bidding, too. Other major contractors that have expressed interest include Lockheed Martin Corp., Science Applications International Corp., ITT Corp. and KBR Inc.  Read More  click http://tr.im/pSWr

 

QinetiQ North America will supply military first-responder robots to the Navy under a $56.4 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.

The award from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Md., calls for the company to deliver an unspecified number of Talon Gen IV robots, repair parts, spare kits and other related equipment and services to the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Division, the single-service manager for all EOD equipment.

QinetiQ North America has been manufacturing Talon robots since 2000. More than 2,800 Talon robots are deployed around the world.

“Robots help protect our warfighters, a fact that is demonstrated every day when a robot accomplishes a dangerous assignment while the warfighter controls it from a safe distance,” said William Ribich, president of QinetiQ North America’s Technology Solutions Group, which will oversee the contract.

Work is expected to be completed in early 2010.

QinetiQ North America, of McLean, Va., ranks No. 34 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors. Click here original news release  http://tr.im/pSbt

One of the perennial issues for contractors in the government market is partnering.

For small businesses it is about connecting with large companies, and for the bigger players it is about finding partners to fill a variety of customer and technology niches as well as comply with small business goals.

I co-hosted a panel on partnering on Tuesday with Shawn McCarthy of Government Insights. The panel at the FOSE trade show in Washington, D.C., (disclosure – Washington Technology and FOSE are owned by 1105 Government Information Group) brought executives from large, small and midtier companies.

The panel consisted of Tracy Denny, vice president of strategic capture management at Serco, Cari Dorman, director of business development, IT infrastructure solutions at CSC, Heidi Gerding, president and chief executive officer, HeiTech Services Inc., and Michael Mullen, vice president, Indus Corp.

Gerding’s company and Serco are in a mentor protégé relationship that Serco inherited when it acquired SI International last year.

While the turnout could have been larger, the advice was stellar.

Here are some highlights.

If you are a small business looking to partner, focus on particular areas of expertise; don’t say you do everything. “You need to be able to say why you are better than any other partner we could bring in,” Denny said.

Small businesses need to be ready to deliver right away, Mullen said.

In looking at both large and small business partners, Gerding said she uses tools such as Dun & Bradstreet. “I check their credit; do they pay bills on time; will they pay me on time,” she said. “I can’t afford cash flow problems.”

For a small business, approaching a large business is similar to approaching a government agency. “You need to understand their needs and their pain points,” Mullen said.

If you can identify a specific opportunity where your small business can help win, you need to highlight that when you approach the large business, Dorman said.

That kind of information is critical in mapping a proposal strategy. Dorman said she maps that information to statements of work in a request for proposals to determine who the best teammates should be.

Some specific technologies the companies are looking at include: Cloud computing, which is big at FOSE this year; cybersecurity; and social media, particularly collaboration tools, which are starting to gain traction.' Click here for original news release http://tr.im/pSiS

Lockheed Martin Corp. has won an Army contract with a potential value of $203 million over five years to provide an array of services to the Field Logistics Readiness Center at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Under the terms of the contract, the company will furnish maintenance, material and logistics services to Army Forces Command units and the Army Materiel Command, which supports troops stationed in the United States and deployed overseas, company officials said June 25.

The contractor will be responsible for maintaining in a state of readiness wheeled vehicles, weapons and power generation and engineering equipment for the Army Sustainment Command and the 406th Training Support Brigade, the officials said.

Lockheed also operates Field Logistics Readiness Centers at Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Benning, Ga., the officials said.

The Army awarded the work through the Field and Installation Readiness Support Team indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. Click here for original news release.