HERNDON, Va., Feb. 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a contract by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fully automate its entire telecommunications invoice process. The contract for invoice and financial management services (IFMS) has an estimated value of $79.6 million over 15 years to Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector.
Northrop Grumman IT will build and maintain a secure IFMS data center that will support the FAA's Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) program office with review and reconciliation of telecommunications invoices, FAA telecommunications payment data, resolution of invoice disputes and financial analysis and budget tracking. At the new data center, the Northrop Grumman IT team will fully automate the entire telecommunications invoice discrepancy identification and dispute resolution process.
"Our team offered a number of strengths to the FAA, based on thorough, well-defined and explicit demonstrations in the areas of invoice-related processes, establishing system functions and operational security," said Kent Schneider, president, Defense Enterprise Solutions, Northrop Grumman IT. "Our CMMI level 5 rating indicates that Northrop Grumman IT's software engineering processes are optimized and focused on continual improvement. Strengths in this area will allow us to successfully develop the FAA's IFMS system and provide the requisite information security assistance."
At the IFMS data center, Northrop Grumman IT will integrate the company's existing telecommunications invoice review and reconciliation software packages within an IBM Websphere environment. A web portal will be operated and maintained to enable FAA FTI users to review the status of all telecommunications services invoices. At full operation, the IFMS system will process invoices for 34,000 to 36,000 telecommunications services per month. The Northrop Grumman IT team is already helping 25 government and commercial clients realize an average savings of 18 percent of telecommunications invoice charges annually.
"Our technical capability enhances the information processing and analysis solutions that we provide," said Schneider.
Work on the IFMS contract will be performed at the Northrop Grumman IT facility in Reading, Mass.
Northrop Grumman IT's IFMS team members include Bearing Point, McLean, Va.; Computer Intelligence2 Aviation, Inc., Washington, D.C.; Government Works, Inc., Oakridge, N.J.; IBM, Bethesda, Md.; Prescient LLC, Wallingford, Conn.; and TSR Inc., Mechanicsburg, Pa.
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.