After canceling a potential $2.6 billion contract it had previously awarded to Northrop Grumman [NOC], the General Service Administration (GSA) on Monday evening selected General Dynamics [GD] to provide the enterprise-wide information technology (IT) infrastructure for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new headquarters that is being built at the St. Elizabeth’s hospital complex in Washington, D.C.
GSA said the seven-year task order it awarded to GD has a ceiling value of $867 million if all options are exercised. So far $89.4 million has been obligated for the program, the agency said.
The award was made to GD One Source, which is led by GD’s Information Technology business in partnership with its Advanced Information Systems and C4 Systems units.
Last September GSA selected Northrop Grumman for a potential 10-year, $2.6 billion contract to develop the enterprise IT infrastructure for the DHS headquarters consolidation at St. Elizabeth’s. However, GSA in November terminated the IT contract with Northrop Grumman citing the need to take corrective action following protests from the losing bidders, which included GD among others.
GSA said recently that it was able to get a better price for the DHS Technology Integration Program (TIP) the second time around for two reasons. The primary reason is that it eliminated three years of operations and maintenance (O&M) work included in the original plans and contract.
A DHS spokesman said that the O&M work will be competed at a later date.
Second, the task order requirements were significantly more detailed in the re-procurement, which enabled the government to get higher quality proposals at lower costs, the GSA said.
GSA said the delay between the first award to Northrop Grumman last fall and the contract with GD this week has not negatively impacted the TIP project schedule or DHS’ use of Recovery Act funds, which provided the monies for the award.
Under the DHS TIP, GD will design, configure, install, test and maintain the integrated network infrastructure to transport voice, video and data across the consolidated headquarters campus.
The contract is a hybrid that will include the use of task performed on a fixed-price and cost-plus basis. Work planned to be done on a cost-plus award fee basis includes requirements analysis and design, implement and test the solution, and operations and maintenance. Work to be done on a cost-plus fixed-fee basis includes technical consulting, the use of emerging technology, and logistic support related to transitioning employees to the new headquarters.
All work at some point may transition to fixed price.
The headquarters consolidation will bring together the 22 agencies that make up DHS in one location.
“The DHS St. Elizabeth’s campus will be a showcase for the value of integrating technology, people, and processes in a consolidated environment that will truly help DHS achieve their critical mission to protect the nation’s security,” Martha Johnson, GSA administrator, said in a statement. “All of GSA is partnering with DHS to create a model campus that is green, energy efficient, and secure, with an integrated technology backbone that can accommodate IT, physical security and smart building networks for the agency well into the future.”