HERNDON, Va., March 27, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) proven software development expertise will help the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) carry out its mission of improving American agriculture and conserving the environment through the Information Technology Support Services 2 (ITSS2) contract.
A Northrop Grumman-led team is one of 11 that will compete for task orders under the five-year, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract. The company estimates that ITSS2 will have a potential value of $50 million to its Information Technology (IT) sector over the lifetime of the program. The USDA awarded the contract to Litton PRC, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2001 and integrated into the company's IT sector in January 2002.
"This is a significant win for Northrop Grumman IT because it is a premier, large-scale information technology contract with the Department of Agriculture," said Jim Perriello, president, Government Solutions, Northrop Grumman IT. "Our strong past performance on other ID/IQ contract vehicles, proven software development expertise, and highly skilled and experienced workforce were key factors in our selection."
Under ITSS2, the Northrop Grumman IT team will provide software engineering; operations support for computer and telecommunications networks; programming and implementation support for integrated telecommunications networks; information management application development; imaging support; and business application engineering. Special projects such as automated data processing requirements analysis, operation research and automation studies will also be performed.
"The Web-enabled management and communications support tools the Northrop Grumman team can apply will provide the customer with important insights that improve business processes," said Dick Schaaf, ITSS2 program manager, Northrop Grumman IT. "In addition, our integrated product team approach creates a partnership environment that invites customer participation, improves mutual understanding and cooperation, and decreases risk on a project. It is a winning formula for successful completion of ITSS2 tasks."
Core members of the Northrop Grumman ITSS2 team include Avanco International Inc., McLean, Va., and Client Network Services Inc., Gaithersburg, Md. Additional small business teammates include A-TEK and SmartNet, both of Leesburg, Va.; Creative Computing Solutions Inc., Bethesda, Md.; Western Air Maps, Overland Park, Kan.; and Riverside Technology Inc., Fort Collins, Colo.
Work on the ITSS2 program will be performed for the USDA's Field Service Agency in Kansas City, Mo., Natural Resources Conservation Service in Fort Collins, Colo., Rural Development Agency in St. Louis, Mo., and offices in Washington, D.C. The contract vehicle is available for use by all USDA agencies and offices nationwide.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology is a premier provider of advanced IT solutions, engineering and business services for government and commercial clients. Headquartered in Herndon, the company's expertise spans such areas as information systems integration; command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR); enterprise hardware and software solutions; training and simulation; base and range support; signals intelligence; space systems; health informatics; and specialized scientific, engineering and technical services.
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