DISA launches huge integrated technology contract

The Defense Information Systems Agency issued a request for information on Tuesday for an integrated technology contract that would provide the Defense Department with a range of support services that industry analysts valued at $100 million or more.

DISA said in the RFI it wants to determine industry interest in "providing world-class, integrated, leading-edge telecommunications and [information technology] solutions providing the greatest set of economically feasible options for the highest possible operational mission readiness."

The agency wants cradle-to-grave operational support for areas such as training, exercises and events, analysis of operational readiness, and development of concepts to provide global networks and IT systems.

The contract would provide support for information security, operations centers, program management, test and evaluation, enterprise architecture, systems engineering and spectrum management, as well as other areas that cover practically everything that DISA does, except for point-to-point circuits.

Responses are due April 28, and DISA has encouraged large and small businesses, which can provide personnel with specialized military backgrounds and advanced subject matter expertise, to respond.

The RFI has a broad scope and is a supplement to existing support contracts, said Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting. He estimated the value of the contract to be between $10 million and $100 million.

Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer of the federal research firm FedSources in McLean, Va., said the contract could be used to provide contractor support services worldwide, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. He estimated the integrated technology contract could reach a value in the several hundred million-dollar range.

Suss said the pact is not a substitute for the planned $2 billion Defense Information Systems Network Global Services Management contract, which will replace the DISN Global Solutions contract, which was awarded to SAIC in October 2001 and expires this September. DISA likely will announce a daylong briefing for potential bidders on the DISN Global Services Management contract in a matter of weeks, he said.