By Calvin Biesecker
The General Services Administration (GSA) last Thursday evening said that Northrop Grumman [NOC] has won a 10-year, $2.6 billion task order to develop the information technology (IT) infrastructure for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) headquarters campus at St. Elizabeth’s in Washington, D.C.
Northrop Grumman will develop and integrate the IT infrastructure in parallel with the construction of the campus, which is the most complex in the GSA’s history and the largest federal construction project in the Washington area since the building of the Pentagon. The old St. Elizabeth’s hospital complex sits on a 176-acre site in Southeast Washington.
“This contract award reflects the close collaboration between DHS and the extensive scope of GSA’s Public Buildings and Federal Acquisition Services to develop a single, integrated IT infrastructure approach that will grow with, and in parallel to, current and future construction projects at St. Elizabeth’s,” Julia Hudson, GSA’s National Capital Region Administrator, said in a statement. “The team approached this assignment by using its expertise to develop a task order that not only takes into account the very real changes that could occur in the future, but also the unique challenges posed by a phased construction schedule that includes the transition of approximately 14,000 DHS employees to the campus over a decade-long period.”
GSA said that a key requirement of DHS is that the IT infrastructure has the ability to “use proven, leading-edge technologies that allows for the future adaptation of new technologies, the ability to support all security levels and technologies, and be flexible enough to adapt to each phase of the construction process.”
The DHS campus will be built and developed in phases, with new construction as well as the renovation of existing buildings of the old St. Elizabeth’s hospital occurring in the coming years. The campus will consolidate 22 DHS agencies. Currently the new Coast Guard headquarters building is under construction.
GSA said the IT infrastructure will incorporate passive optical network technology which offers as much as 80 percent savings in power consumption.
The task order was available only to companies under the GSA’s Alliant contract, which has 59 awardees. The task order was made using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
For the refurbishing and reuse of existing buildings at St. Elizabeth’s, GSA also last week awarded a $57.4 million contract to Grunley Construction Co.
Another upcoming award related to St. Elizabeth’s is for a Campus Coordinator. The coordinator will have responsibility for global issues related to all three phases of the headquarters project. The cost range for the coordinator project is between $10 million and $25 million.