MCLEAN, Va., June 9, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a contract to provide National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with the capability to independently verify and validate mission-critical software that will support the safety requirements and technology needs of the agency.
Northrop Grumman and one additional company were selected to compete for task orders valued up to $200 million over the five-year term of the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.
Northrop Grumman, recently recognized in two categories for NASA's premier honor, the George M. Low Award for outstanding achievements in quality and performance, has more than 45 years of independent verification and validation experience.
Independent verification and validation (IV&V) is a systems-engineering process applied throughout the software-development lifecycle to verify the system does what it was designed to do, and validate that it meets NASA's objectives. Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector will help the NASA Independent Verification & Validation facility refine and apply IV&V processes and technology to increase reliability and reduce problems with mission critical software assurance systems.
Northrop Grumman will help NASA reach this goal by making the software compliant with NASA development plans, standards, procedures and specifications, which will help correct errors early in the software development life-cycle and can help reduce costs and development time.
In addition to the Information Technology sector's work, the company's Mission Systems sector will provide technical support for critical NASA human exploration, robotic and instrument systems. The company's IV&V software-engineering analysts will provide detailed analyses of the software requirements, design, code and test implementation, and support critical mission operational and software components to make these projects safe, secure and successful.
As part of its increasing presence in West Virginia, Northrop Grumman will manage this effort from its facility in the West Virginia High Technology Foundation campus in Fairmont. Work on the contract will also be performed at the NASA IV&V facility in Fairmont, and other NASA centers throughout the United States. Northrop Grumman will add approximately 100 additional jobs over 18 months to support the program.
Northrop Grumman's core team includes the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation; Action Facilities Management, Westover, W.Va.; Azimuth and Key Logic Systems, Morgantown, W.Va.; ISM and New-Bold Enterprises, Fairmont, W.Va.; MPL Corp., Buckhannon, W.Va.; and Mountain States Information Systems, Elkins, W.Va. Additional Northrop Grumman teammates include L-3 Communications, New York, N.Y.; Electronic Warfare Associates, Herndon, Va.; and Barrios Technology and GB Tech, Houston, Texas.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology, headquartered in McLean, Va., is a trusted IT leader and premier provider of advanced IT solutions, engineering and business services for government and commercial clients. The company's technological leadership spans such areas as homeland security solutions, health IT solutions, secure wireless, cyber and physical assurance, IT and network infrastructure, managed services, knowledge management, modeling and simulation, and geospatial intelligence solutions.