The Department of Homeland Security has selected the non-profit RAND Corp. to continue to lead a federally-funded research and development center (FFRDC) that provides mission level technical and integration expertise to department leaders and managers.

DHS on Thursday said it plans to award RAND a potential five-year, $495 million contract for the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC). DHS in 2016 awarded RAND a $494.7 million to run the HSOAC, which replaced the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute that was managed by ANSER.

“HSOAC provides special analytical expertise to Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute department program managers to transform program level analysis requirement and performance metrics, constrained by cost and schedule, into a preferred documented configuration of sustainable deliverables,” DHS says in an April 14 notice on the government’s business opportunities Sam.gov.

The award in 2016 was competitive but this time around DHS did without competing the HSOAC work. DHS said that its Science and Technology Directorate conducted a comprehensive analysis of the performance of the center and an analysis of alternative sources, finding that “RAND is not underperforming, and there is no expectation of significant cost savings if a new operator is selected.”