FCi Federal Nabs Potential $417M USCIS Award for Benefits Center Ops
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has awarded FCi Federal Inc. a potential five-year $416.7 million contract to provide operations support services for the National Benefits Center (NBC). The NBC supports a centralized and standardized process for the processing of applications and petitions for adjudication of immigration benefits. FCi will provide services to ensure that USCIS is prepared to handle increases in application volumes in the future.
BAH, Northrop Grumman, HP Receive Latest CDM Awards
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded three new task orders under the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) cyber security program, with Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH] receiving $82.9 million, Northrop Grumman [NOC] $32.5 million and Hewlett Packard’s [HPQ] Enterprise Services business $21.7 million. The contract, awarded through the General Services Administration, makes CDM tools and services available to 17 additional federal agencies, bringing CDM available to 97 percent of the federal civilian government. “These Awards constitute another major step forward in providing the entire federal civilian government with the ability to identify, prioritize, and fix the most significant problems on their networks in near-real time,” says Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. “With the continued implantation of CDM, agencies will be able to monitor networks internally for vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors hat have breached the perimeter. Together with the EINSTEIN system’s intrusion detection and prevention capabilities, CDM enhances the sophistication of our cyber defenses as a whole, and provides DHS with situational awareness about government-wide risk.” The new awards are the third, fourth and fifth of six under the Continuous Monitoring as a Services (CMaaS) Blanket Purchase Agreement. The first two task orders under the CMaaS portion of CDM were made earlier this year with Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG) nabbing a $29.1 million order and BAH a $39.3 million order. KCG is now owned by ManTech International [MANT]. For HP and Northrop Grumman, the new task orders are the second each for the company under CDM.
USCIS Awards SAIC Potential $21M Contract for IT Support
Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC] has received a potential four-month, $21.2 million contract extension from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to provide IT technical and program management support services under the Secure Enterprise Technology Infrastructure task order. The bridge contract has a two-month base period valued at $10.6 million and two one-month options valued at $5.3 million respectively. The award is being made under the EAGLE II contract to allow continued performance by SAIC until Jan. 8, 2016 during the award and transition-in period of the successor task order. The original contract was made under EAGLE I, which expires on Sept. 25.
Morpho Wins Contracts to Supply Itemiser 4DX ETDs to U.K., Portugal
Safran Group’s Morpho Detection business has received two new contracts for its desktop Itemiser 4DX explosive trace detectors (ETD), one from Birmingham Airport Ltd in the United Kingdom and the other from Portugal airports operator Vinci/ANA Aeroportos de Portugal. For Portugal, Morpho is supplying 74 ETDs through its local partner MicroSegur for use in passenger screening. The systems will be deployed to five airports. For Birmingham the number of units ordered wasn’t disclosed. Morpho says that following competitive testing, the airport selected the Itemiser 4DX to replace a competitor’s legacy systems to meet new European Union regulations for passenger screening. “The detection and operational capabilities of Itemiser 4DX, combined with Morpho’s rapid response global service teams, helps airport operators and security directors achieve the highest levels of system uptime and performance.” The Itemiser 4DX is powered by a non-radioactive Ion Trap Mobility Spectrometer source, eliminating administrative, regulatory, storage and shipping requirements associated with a radiation-emitting trace detection source. Morpho has supplied more than 23,000 ETDs to airports, air cargo, law enforcement agencies, and other customers worldwide.
Smiths Detection to Supply IONSCAN 600 ETD to Spanish Airports
Spanish airport operator Aena has ordered nearly 300 new explosives trace detectors (ETDs) from Smiths Detection for passenger screening at Aena’s airports in Spain. Smiths Detection will supply its new IONSCAN 600 ETD, marking the first major airport contract for the desktop system, which like competitor systems from Implant Sciences [IMSC] and Safran Group’s Morpho Detection business, rely on non-radioactive sources, eliminating the need for special licensing, handling or disposal requirements. Smiths is working through its Spanish distributor TECOSA on the contract, which is for passenger screening. Smiths has nearly 25,000 of its previous versions of the IONSCAN system deployed globally.
DLA Awards BioFire $3M for JBAIDS Supplies
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has awarded BioFire Defense, LLC, a $3.4 million contract to provide various supplies for the Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System (JBAIDS). BioFire has been the prime contractor for JBAIDS since 2003. Under the latest award, BioFire will supply reagent/assays and sample purification/control kits, which are sued for the JBAIDS polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyzer for the surveillance and diagnosis of biological threats. The company will also provide spare parts kits for the maintenance and repair of the PCR analyzer. The contract has a one-year base period and four one-year options.
Coast Guard Awards GD Small Contract To Update Rescue 21 In Alaska
General Dynamics [GD] says the Coast Guard has awarded the company a potential $10 million contract to upgrade the services Rescue 21 search and rescue system in Alaska. Under the Alaska Phase 2 contract, GD will identify a cost-effective way to update existing radio equipment operating in 30 locations and evaluate the existing communications towers at each site. GD says the analysis will include radios with various roles, including those that provide digital selective calling, which mariners use in an emergency. The upgrades will lead to improved clarity for voice calls and better use of radio spectrum for more reliable and efficient communication. In Alaska Rescue 21 is deployed along the state’s coastline and the Aleutian Islands. The system is also deployed along the eastern, western and Gulf coastlines of the United States, the Great Lakes and other public and commercial navigable waterways, including the Great Lakes.
ArdentMC Nabs Border Patrol GIS Support Contract
Ardent Management Consulting (ArdentMC) received the Border Patrol Geospatial Information Systems task order to support the Geospatial Service Center (GSC) in coordination with Customs and Border Protection. Under the four-year, six-month award, ArdentMC will provide support to the Geospatial Service Center within the Office of the Border Patrol GIS Branch. The core mission objective of the branch is to manage and distribute spatial data, perform spatial analysis, and provide web-based mapping and situational awareness. ArdentMC says the task order expands its work with the GSC.
TSA Increases Ceiling on STIP Contract with GD
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has increased the ceiling value of the Security Technology Integration Program (STIP) contract with General Dynamics [GD] by $1.5 million to $21.5 million. TSA says the increase will allow for additional contractor support to provide developmental support for the STIP Application Suite. Under STIP, GD is working to network the various Transportation Security Equipment (TSE) across the nation’s airports into a centralized enterprise data management system. TSA says that in addition to two main task orders issued in 2014 and 2015, there have been a few surge requirements for STIP software migration, Credential Authentication Technologies algorithm modification in connection with STIP, walk-through metal detector adaptors for STIP, and TSE requirements analysis platform design and proof of concept implementation, which is a system integration test bed environment. So far all of the task orders have fallen within the original $20 million ceiling of the STIP contract. Forthcoming STIP requirements include secure remote validation of air travel ticket information before allowing access to TSE, developing and maintaining an advanced database to study operational data and eventually enhance TSE functionality and operations, and cover the cost impact of the agency’s initiative to improve the security of the STIP system and its stored data through the Personal Identity Verification solutions. The STIP contract runs between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2018.
DHS S&T Awards Portland Firm $2M for Cyber Security Research
Galois, Inc. has received a $1.7 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) branch to create technology to defend against large and sophisticated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. S&T says that due to the massive size of modern DDoS attacks, medium-sized organizations face difficulties mitigating the damage if they act alone. Portland, Ore.-based Galois will develop a DDoS response solution based on communication software, deployed at multiple organizations, that lets them collaborate. The DDoS traffic details are shared through peer-to-peer software, giving the teamed organizations the benefit of mutual detection and a unified defense to block attacks originating from thousands of locations.
DHS Awards Battelle $1M in Task Orders for Millimeter Wave R&D
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology branch has awarded Battelle three task orders worth a combined $1.2 million for continued research and development related to millimeter wave technology in three areas: signature of systems and targets; development of an image quality tool for Advanced Imaging Technology systems; and the demonstration and development of a material identification using millimeter wave systems. Under the new work, Battelle will measure the remaining commercial explosives not completed under previous task orders and design stimulants for explosives in the frequency range measured. The non-profit company will continue to use the resin identified in the previous task order and will design a range of shapes for image testing with the AIT systems available at the Transportation Security Laboratory and with the XY scanning frame and antennas. Battelle will also widen the proof-of-concept analysis to more military and commercial explosives.