The Air Force said Friday it awarded a nearly $7 billion contract award to be shared among eight companies for Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS-2) Netcentric products.

Ace Technology Partners, CDW Government, CounterTrade Products, FedStore Corp., General Dynamics [GD], Intelligence Decisions, Iron Bow Technologies and World Wide Technology were awarded the firm-fixed-price, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract vehicle. This will provide for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to support the Internet Protocol Network and will include the following categories of net-centric and information technology (IT) products and associated support worldwide: networking equipment, servers and storage, peripherals, multimedia, software (not included on other enterprise licenses, identity management/biometric hardware and associated software.

The award has a six-year performance period with a three-year basic ordering period with three one-year options if exercised.

The Air Force said the purpose of Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) is to provide the service, the Defense Department and other federal agencies a primary source of networking equipment/product supply. It is also to provide a means of system engineering, installation, integration, operations and maintenance for a family of DoD-adopted commercially standardized networking solutions that are interoperable with Air Force, joint and DoD standardized networking technical architectures.