By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology branch yesterday awarded two contracts to the non-profit firms Analytic Services, Inc. (ANSER) and MITRE Corp. to establish and run two new Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) to deepen the department’s research capabilities.
Both contracts have a base-year and four one-year options with MITRE’s potentially worth $443 million and ANSER’s $269 million.
“FFRDCs enable us to use private sector resources for long-term research and development needs in a way that supports our mission and uses taxpayer dollars in a fiscally responsible way,” Bradley Buswell, acting under secretary for Science and Technology, said in a statement. “The award of these two contracts will take the department one step closer to [Homeland Security] Secretary Napolitano’s goal of creating ‘one DHS,’ by providing a superb research resource for the entire department.”
The Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute (HSSAI), to be run by ANSER, will essentially replace the current Homeland Security Institute (HSI) also run by ANSER. The company’s original contract, awarded nearly five years ago, expires next month (Defense Daily, April 26, 2004).
HSSAI’s focus is on mission-oriented analysis and expertise focusing on program objectives, system requirements and metrics. In the past the HSI has analyzed the concept and organizing framework of the National Incident Management System, performed operational analyses on the Secure Border Initiative and done “deep dives” on programs such as the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal, Ervin Kapos, the executive agent for DHS’ FFRDCs, told Defense Daily yesterday.
The Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute (HSSEDI), to be managed by MITRE, is brand new and will focus on how to put together performance requirements and pricing principles, Kapos said. DHS said that HSSEDI will provide advice on concept evolution, development integration, best practices in life-cyle systems engineering and management, and program-level technical integration expertise across the enterprise.
FFRDCs give DHS an independent viewpoint on various programs and initiatives and also provide the department with additional “brain power,” Kapos said.