Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC] has unseated KBR [KBR] as the contractor for the Air Force Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities Hyper-Innovative Operational Prototype Engineering (AF TENCAP HOPE) program run from Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
On Wednesday, SAIC said that the Air Force has awarded the company a five-year, up to $928 million contract for AF TENCAP HOPE 2.0 that the company plans to start next month.
Congress mandated the establishment of the overall DoD TENCAP program for the military services in 1977.
AF TENCAP is to allow the sharing of intelligence community data with aircrews, for example F-15 pilots.
Senate and House appropriators provide the Air Force’s requested $50 million for AF TENCAP in their versions of the fiscal 2025 defense appropriations bill.
“SAIC will provide comprehensive research, development, test, and evaluation mission engineering services to help AF TENCAP create near program of record ready prototypes that lead to improved warfighting superiority and decision dominance in all domains,” the company said on Wednesday. “Incorporating warfighter feedback, SAIC will support rapid prototype development and mission integration for AF TENCAP and its 65 agencies and commands across the DoD and Intelligence Community. This includes partnering with more than a dozen traditional and non-traditional defense companies to deliver the nation’s most advanced technology to DoD Combatant Commands.”
In November 2020, the Air Force awarded KBR a five-year, nearly $539 million contract for AF TENCAP HOPE. KBR’s team includes
General Dynamics [GD].
In response to questions on why SAIC came out on top in the latest AF TENCAP Hope competition, the company responded in an email statement, “In addition to being a premier mission integrator, SAIC won the contract based on our track record for rapid modernization of DoD C2 and space integration programs implementing data-centric solutions, leveraging both leading edge commercial technologies.”
“However, we do not compromise security for speed,” SAIC said. “We build in cyber-resilience from day one of the solutioning, as we know these systems will be ‘tested’ by adversary hackers. Both the C2 and space systems we have been modernizing, and TENCAP’s scope, has our nation’s most sensitive data, which make the focus on resilience all the more important to the combatant commanders and TENCAP program.”