From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 1 01:45:24 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:45:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SL Green Signs Two in Manhattan Message-ID: <20060731214516.X60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 July 2006 ; GlobeSt.com SL Green Signs Two in Manhattan http://www.globest.com/news/653_653/newyork/147777-1.html --- NEW YORK CITY-SL Green Realty Corp. leased two Manhattan properties as Science Applications International Corporation renewed its lease covering 14,813 sf at 1250 Broadway and architectural firm Perkins + Will took the entire fourth floor, covering 16,500 sf, at 215 Park Avenue South. Science Applications International extended in the class A building near commuter hub Penn Station that recently underwent a building-wide renovation, which included a new lobby, elevator cabs, mechanical systems, window restoration and a new outdoor plaza. In addition to Science Applications International Corporation, other noteworthy tenants include Metal Bulletin Holdings Corporation, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and Reserve Management Corporation. Martin Horner of The Staubach Company of New York LLC represented the tenant in this new agreement. Located at the corner of 18th street and Park Ave. South, 215 Park Ave, South, a 20-story, full service office building, owned by 215 Park Avenue South Associates, LP, contains 300,000 sf. Other building tenants include publishing house, Houghton Mifflin Co., advertising agency, AKA Inc. and Kimball International Marketing, Inc. Paul Formichelli and Robert Bundy of The Staubach Company represented the tenant in the transaction, while Howard Tenenbaum, executive vice president and Gary Rosen, senior managing director of SL Green Realty represented the landlord, 215 Park Avenue South Associates, LP. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 2 11:47:11 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 07:47:11 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Federal Computer Week Message-ID: <20060802074703.T60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 August 2006 ; SAIC, Adobe in accord Federal Computer Week http://www.fcw.com/article95492-08-01-06-Web --- By David Hubler Adobe Systems and Science Applications International Corp. have signed a marketing agreement to jointly pursue new business opportunities in the government and commercial sectors. Larry Cox, senior vice president and general manager of SAIC's Intelligence and Information Solutions business unit, said the agreement will enable SAIC business developers and program managers to find new business opportunities, Internet applications and electronic document services, according to a joint statement. SAIC will offer systems integration and consulting services using Adobe's LiveCycle J2EE-based enterprise software to automate and streamline business processes. The company will also offer Adobe's Macromedia Breeze software for Web conferencing, Adobe Flex for Internet applications and Adobe Acrobat for secure PDF documents. "We intend to make it easier for agencies to collaborate with constituents and agency personnel alike to share knowledge and to provide more efficient, more secure, and easy-to-use electronic processes," said Eugene Lee, vice president of vertical and solutions marketing at Adobe. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 2 11:48:38 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 07:48:38 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Buys Aerospace Firm Message-ID: <20060802074831.J60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Buys Aerospace Firm http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=12521482.89663402.1343771.8193589.1831396.594&aID2=103358 --- Science Applications International Corp. announced Aug. 1 that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire a Torrance-based aerospace engineering and information technology company, BD Systems Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SAIC said the purchase, expected to close in September, would expand SAIC's presence in the space and information technology markets. BD Systems would become a subsidiary of SAIC and would be headed by Mike Smith, BD Systems' executive vice president and chief operating officer. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. BD Systems is an aerospace engineering and information technology company with some 330 employees in more than 20 locations in the United States. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 2 20:50:21 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 16:50:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC buys bd Systems Message-ID: <20060802164937.B60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 August 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC buys bd Systems http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/29046-1.html --- By William Welsh Deputy Editor Science Applications International Corp. has acquired bd Systems Inc., a provider of aerospace engineering and IT services. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition augments SAIC's technical and operational capabilities and will enable it to better meet customer needs. Following the acquisition, the Torrance, Calif., company will become a unit of SAIC. Mike Smith, bd Systems' current executive vice president and chief operating officer, will lead the unit. The acquisition is expected to close in September. The newly acquired company, which has more than 330 employees, offers systems engineering, enterprise network management and aerospace engineering services. It also provides logistics and sustainment support, geographical information systems and acquisition support. SAIC of San Diego has 43,000 employees and had annual revenue of $7.8 billion for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2006. The company ranks No. 3 [1] on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 [2] list of the largest federal IT contractors. --- [1] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/3.html [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 2 20:51:41 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 16:51:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC to buy bd Systems Message-ID: <20060802165132.O60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 2 August 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC to buy bd Systems http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/07/31/daily38.html --- Science Applications International has signed a definitive agreement to acquire bd Systems, a provider of aerospace, engineering and information technology services. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to wrap up in September of this year, subject to customary closing conditions. Torrance, Calif.-based bd Systems will become a subsidiary of the research and engineering firm, which is based in San Diego and has a huge presence in McLean and throughout the Washington area. Bd Systems employs more than 330 people at a handful of U.S. sites, including Arlington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Antonio and Huntsville, Ala. The company's core capabilities include systems engineering, enterprise network management, logistics support, geographical information systems and aerospace engineering. "This acquisition reflects SAIC's commitment to the U.S. government and the nation's critical mission of space superiority," says Ken Dahlberg, the company's chairman and CEO, in a statement. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Aug 3 11:19:20 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 07:19:20 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Homeland Security Goes Public Message-ID: <20060803071819.G60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 3 August 2006 ; Forbes Homeland Security Goes Public http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/08/02/saic-homeland-security-ipo-cx_wl_0803saic.html --- IPO Outlook William Launder Science Applications International Corp., a company little known outside its bicoastal headquarters in San Diego and McLean, Va., cuts a very large swath across the homeland security marketplace. Riding a wave of business founded on fear--which has multiplied tenfold in the last three years--SAIC collects billions of dollars from the government, money that comes straight out of taxpayers' pockets. And company officials, along with some potential investors, say SAIC has huge growth potential and are working hard to make it expand even further. SAIC, which provides science and engineering consulting services and creates systems and software products for governments around the world, actually dates back to 1969, when founder Robert Beyster, a former research scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, began working on homeland security and defense-related engineering, computer and communications tasks for the federal government. SAIC also builds scanning machines that can detect chemical or nuclear materials in port shipping containers. And it designs surveillance systems consisting of alarms, sensors and cameras that have been used at airports and high-profile events including the 2002 Olympic Games in Utah and the 2004 Games in Athens. SAIC also designs interactive simulation programs that allow emergency workers across the country to train for real disasters using mock exercises. Other projects include developing the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump site in the Nevada desert. The company is about to find new visibility--on Wall Street. Company officials, who had announced plans for SAIC to go public last fall, delayed the offering because of a dispute with the Greek government over services SAIC provided during the Athens Olympics, which CEO Kenneth Dahlberg said last December resulted in $115 million in losses for SAIC. Now, company officials say the IPO is back on track for this fall. If it proceeds as planned, it would generate $1.7 billion, nearly as much as Google's closely watched offering two years ago, which pulled in $1.8 billion. Moreover, this sudden infusion of new capital could help Dahlberg realize his goal of achieving $12 billion in revenue by 2008. Given the company's nearly $8 billion revenues in its last fiscal year and its position as one of the most popular and well-established homeland security contractors, Dahlberg's $12 billion goal may not be far-fetched. Its sales are about the same as Google, US Airways, Campbell Soup, Nordstrom and Avon. "They have been one of the industry leaders for decades," says Larry Davis, a managing partner at Aronson Capital Partners. The public may not know SAIC, adds Duane Andrews, a former assistant defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush and former SAIC vice president, "but the government does." And that's what counts. SAIC took in 89% of its revenue in the year ending Jan. 31, 2006, from government contracts--the third-highest total for any U.S. government contractor, according to Washington Technology, a trade journal. Since Sept. 11, 2001, SAIC has won at least $4.06 billion in contracts from the Department of Homeland Security and its predecessor agencies, making it the department's sixth-largest contractor overall and a step ahead of other major industry players like Honeywell and Dell, according to the Federal Procurement Data System. Trouble is, no one knows whether this business will last--or for how long. While there have been no terrorist attacks in the United States in the past five years, there's also no evidence that the money put toward homeland security is truly responsible for that. At any time, public sentiment could shift, deciding that the money spent in the homeland security sector would be better spent on law enforcement or intelligence or traditional military operations. To make matters worse, SAIC is a bit of a black box--much of what it does is proprietary or even top-secret, so it's hard to tell whether what SAIC provides is necessary and effective. Noting that a "pretty big chunk" of homeland security spending is "disappearing into the rat hole," John Pike, director of think tank Globalsecurity.org, says it is hard to say if the money has produced results. "It's being treated as free government money," he says. "It means we are not nearly as safe as we need to be." No one expects the homeland security market to disappear, but its trajectory is a bit of a wild card. William Farmer, managing director at investment bank Jefferies Quarterdeck, believes the business will continue to grow, but he adds, "I don't know if the rate of growth will stay the same." Others say the real growth will be protecting private-sector targets, like schools, industrial plants and even Wal-Mart Stores. "It's very clear to me that massive amounts of investment are needed in the private sector, where we are wildly insecure," says Bruce Aitken, president of the Homeland Security Industry Association. SAIC began working on homeland security tasks for the federal government immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Previously, SAIC was involved in homeland security-type contracts ranging from designing luggage inspection machines to cleaning up the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1980 and investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. SAIC technicians raced to Ground Zero within hours to install an ad hoc communications network for first responders and local financial companies. The Federal Aviation Administration hired SAIC to train sky marshals on flight safety. And several federal agencies deployed SAIC risk analysis software to help determine threat levels just after Sept 11. Known as much for its entrepreneurial spirit as its scientific credentials, SAIC has signed at least 86 contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies since Sept. 11, according to SAIC slide presentations in 2005. Meanwhile, SAIC's overall revenues have increased by nearly $2 billion over the past five years--to $7.8 billion in fiscal 2006 from $5.9 billion in fiscal 2001. In recent months, SAIC's name has started to surface, partly because it has links with so many security experts. In June, Stephen E. Flynn, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of America the Vulnerable, drew criticism in The New York Times for working as a consultant to SAIC, then endorsing port-screening devises like SAIC's without disclosing the relationship. Flynn, when questioned, said that he ended his relationship with SAIC before he began lobbying on behalf of port security. And David Kay, the government's former adviser on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, who appears frequently on television, worked for SAIC for nearly a decade until 2002. SAIC also works closely with the National Security Agency, the electronic espionage agency that came under fire last December for eavesdropping on thousands of American households. A host of former NSA officials have served as SAIC employees and board members after leaving the government, including former NSA director Bobby Ray Inman. SAIC develops wiretapping technology for NSA like Trailblazer, a $1 billion program that, when completed, will store and analyze phone conversations, e-mail and other information. SAIC has always been completely owned by its employees, but the IPO will change that. Dahlberg, its chief executive, said in a letter to SAIC's 42,000 workers last fall that the company's IPO will provide it with more free cash for an ambitious expansion. Its goal of $12 billion in revenue for 2008 would make SAIC larger than Apptis and L-3 Communications, the third- and fourth-largest Department of Homeland Security contractors, and put SAIC in the ranks of Northwest Airlines and tech giant Sun Microsystems in terms of annual revenues. With most of its revenue coming from the federal government, SAIC is making a big bet on future contracts--many related to homeland security, analysts said, and that bet will be a crucial factor for potential SAIC investors to analyze. "What they are saying is that it's a healthy and robust government market," says Herb Strauss, a vice president and principal national security analyst at Gartner Intelligence. When SAIC comes to market this fall, Wall Street will see if investors agree. William Launder reported this story as a fellow in the Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative on the future of journalism. -- Note: This article is *very* similar to one posted on 28 July 2006 by the same author, with a bit more emphasis on the taxpayers' pockets. -- Ed. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 4 21:50:10 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 17:50:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC has busy week, announces second acquisition Message-ID: <20060804175001.R60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 4 August 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC has busy week, announces second acquisition http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/07/31/daily73.html --- The research and engineering giant, which is based in San Diego and has a regional headquarters in McLean, paid an undisclosed amount for Alexandria-based Cornerstone Industry, which develops, writes, publishes and assesses the joint doctrine process -- the principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective. The company's clients are both commercial and government, including the Department of Defense. SAIC says the 59 employees of Cornerstone will transition into its strategies, simulation and training business unit. "As a market leader in joint doctrine, [the employees of Cornerstone] bring deep insight and experience that can enable us to better serve the needs of both our joint and service clients," says Beverly Seay, general manager of the SAIC division for which Cornerstone will become a part, in a statement. SAIC paid an undisclosed amount Aug. 1 for Torrance, Calif.-based bd Systems, an information-technology and engineering company with 330 employees at several U.S. sites, including Arlington and D.C. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Aug 6 20:05:36 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 16:05:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Courtrooms Get Wired for Tech Services By SAIC Message-ID: <20060806160518.P60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 6 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal Courtrooms Get Wired for Tech Services By SAIC http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=01678824.7268025.1346150.5707332.6643685.944&aID2=103541 --- $54M Contract Calls for a Myriad of Desktop to Data Center Services Image [1], Caption: Tom Gorrie of SAIC and Celeste Schwartz of San Diego Superior Court monitor the data center at the court's Hall of Justice downtown. BY KATY GRAHAM San Diego Superior Court is ready for an update in information technology services, which will be implemented with a $54.8 million contract awarded to Science Applications International Corp. On July 19, San Diego-based research and engineering firm SAIC announced plans to provide IT services to San Diego's Superior Court buildings during a five-year contract. The contract contains three one-year options for recurring services and related procurement, such as hardware and software purchases for personal computers, laptops, servers, printers and peripherals, at an estimated value of $33.5 million. If the Superior Court decides to exercise all the options, the contract could reach a total value of $88.3 million, according to SAIC. "The contract has three one-year options to continue providing the same services at already negotiated prices beyond the initial five-year term," said an SAIC spokesman. Upgraded services will become available as early as Aug. 22, with all the information technology upgrades scheduled to be in place by Oct. 21. The contract calls for SAIC to provide information technology services for the court in areas of network, data center, and desktop services for 150 laptops and approximately 1,800 desktops. There will also be data center support for about 140 servers and storage area networks. Other IT tune-ups will be provided, such as video-teleconferencing services, and other projects as they are identified. "SAIC will provide basic IT infrastructure support, including the operation and maintenance of the court's data centers and servers, desktop computers and laptops, data and voice networks and video-audio systems," said the SAIC spokesman, who asked not to be identified. Working Together Celeste Schwartz, assistant chief information officer for the San Diego Superior Court's information technology department, is excited about the court's advancements in technology and gaining a "blended service" model. According to Schwartz, the blended model is innovative because it uses existing IT staffs that know the Superior Court's technology and business. They will work in conjunction with SAIC to create a blend of information technology services. "This contract gives us a way to use an outsourcing company that offers experienced services," Schwartz said. The contract with SAIC is directly managed by the San Diego Superior Court, unlike its previous contract, which was managed by San Diego County. [1] http://www.sdbj.com/images/articles/SR%20courts%20Gorrie%20&%20Schwartz080406.jpg From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 8 02:17:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 22:17:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Acquires Cornerstone Industry, Inc. Message-ID: <20060807221648.O60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 August 2006 ; WebWire SAIC Acquires Cornerstone Industry, Inc. http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=17969 --- Aug 04, 2006, (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Cornerstone Industry, Inc. (Cornerstone), a firm that provides joint doctrine development -- the fundamental principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective. Cornerstone also offers e-learning, Web services and computer gaming related to joint doctrine development to Department of Defense and commercial clients. The acquisition of Cornerstone strengthens SAIC's position as a leader in the joint transformation market. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., Cornerstone develops, writes, publishes, assesses, and supports the entire joint doctrine process, including training and education. The company is one of the leading providers of joint doctrine support for the joint staff with significant presence at the U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center. "Joint doctrine provides the fundamental principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective," said Don York, president and chief executive officer of Cornerstone Industry. "Cornerstone Industry is recognized as an industry expert in this area and we look forward to bringing our capabilities to SAIC." Supporting customers in Washington, D.C., and both Hampton and Suffolk, Va., the company's 59 employees will transition into SAIC's Strategies, Simulation, and Training Business Unit. Terms of the acquisition agreement were not disclosed. "We are pleased with the addition of the Cornerstone team to our organization," said Beverly Seay, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Strategies, Simulation and Training Business Unit. "As a market leader in joint doctrine, they bring deep insight and experience that can enable us to better serve the needs of both our joint and Service clients." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 8 02:18:14 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 22:18:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC finishes Cornerstone purchase Message-ID: <20060807221805.T60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 August 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC finishes Cornerstone purchase http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/29091-1.html --- By Roseanne Gerin Staff Writer Science Applications International Corp. has completed the acquisition of Cornerstone Industry Inc., a company that specializes in joint doctrine development. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Joint doctrine development is the guidelines for coordinating the use of U.S. forces. Cornerstone Industry writes, evaluates and supports the process, including training and education. It also offers professional services, e-learning, and computer gaming related to joint doctrine development for the Defense Department, including the U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center. The Alexandria, Va., veteran-owned small business has 59 employees who will become part of SAIC's Strategies, Simulation and Training business unit. Cornerstone Industry is SAIC's fourth acquisition this year. On Aug. 1, SAIC signed a definitive agreement to acquire bd Systems, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., a provider of aerospace engineering and IT services. In July, SAIC completed its purchase of GeoViz.com Inc., a maker of commercial tools for command, control, communications and computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. In April, SAIC acquired Geo-Spatial Technologies Inc., which specializes in geospatial technology for advanced 3-D imaging, reconnaissance, remote sensing and mapping systems. SAIC did not disclose the terms for any of the deals. SAIC of San Diego is a research and engineering company with more than 43,000 employees. It had annual revenue of $7.8 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. The company ranks No. 3 [1] on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 [2] list of the largest federal IT contractors. --- [1] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/3.html [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 8 02:19:03 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 22:19:03 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC buys Cornerstone Message-ID: <20060807221856.R60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 August 2006 ; Federal Computer Week SAIC buys Cornerstone http://www.fcw.com/article95559-08-04-06-Web --- By David Hubler Science Applications International Corp. has purchased Cornerstone Industry, a consulting firm that specializes in instructing U.S. military forces. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Cornerstone is a veteran-owned small business headquartered in Alexandria, Va., that provides professional services, e-learning, and computer gaming technologies to both Department of Defense and commercial clients. Cornerstone also provides joint doctrine instruction at the U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center. "Joint doctrine provides the fundamental principles that guide the employment of U.S. military forces in coordinated action toward a common objective," explained Don York, president and chief executive officer of Cornerstone, in a statement. The company's 59 employees will join SAIC's Strategies, Simulation and Training Business Unit. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 8 03:02:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 23:02:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Innerwall Enters Common Criteria Program Message-ID: <20060807230153.T60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 August 2006 ; Business Wire Innerwall Enters Common Criteria Program http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060807005955&newsLang=en --- Secure Enclave Undergoing Strict Product Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2006--Innerwall, Inc., a leading provider of network access control and endpoint security solutions, today announced that its Secure Enclave Product has been accepted for evaluation by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), a collaborative government initiative between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to create the level of consumer trust in information assurance systems. The Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS) process was created to assess IT product conformance with Common Criteria (ISO 15408) managed in the United States by the NIAP. Science Application International Corporation (SAIC) is performing the evaluation on the Innerwall Secure Enclave product. SAIC is the largest U.S. evaluator, performing 48 percent of the current U.S. evaluations. By entering the testing program, Innerwall has committed itself to meeting very stringent security requirements. "The Department of Defense is requiring its agencies to purchase CCEVS approved technologies. CCEVS certification will open the door to more business opportunities with a large segment of the government. It may also provide a standard and an increased confidence level in Secure Enclave for businesses that often do not have the time nor resources to conduct independent product evaluations," said Frank Hammond, Innerwall Chief Technology Officer. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 8 23:23:51 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 19:23:51 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Contracts for August 8, 2006 Message-ID: <20060808192342.V60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 August 2006 ; United States Department of Defense Contracts for August 8, 2006 http://defenselink.mil/contracts/2006/ct20060808-13594.html --- CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense No. 755-06 FOR RELEASE AT Aug 08, 2006 Media Contact: (703)697-5131 Public/Industry(703)428-0711 CONTRACTS [...] AIR FORCE [...] The Air Force is awarding an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to the following contractors: Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., McLean, Va., Intecon, LLC, Centennial, Colo.; Lockheed Martin Services, Inc., Cherry Hill, N.J.; Science Applications International Corporation, San Diego, Calif.; Delta Solutions and Strategies, LLC, Colorado Springs, Colo.; L.C. Wright, Inc., McLean, Va.; Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems, Inc., Reston, Va.; WILLCOR, Inc., Clinton, Maryland. NORAD-USNORTHCOM advisory and assistance services. This action provides for primary support for advisory and assistance services and some non-advisory and assistance services such as information management and engineering services supporting the NORAD USNORTHCOM (N-NC) commands missions and any agencies supported by N-NC. At this time, $100,000 has been obligated for each contractor. The 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., is the contracting activity. (FA2517-06-D-9000; -9001; -9002; -9003; -9004; -9005; -9006; -9007) From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 9 23:52:22 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 19:52:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC to support Agriculture's crop insurance program Message-ID: <20060809195207.S60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 August 2006 ; Federal Computer Week SAIC to support Agriculture's crop insurance program http://www.fcw.com/article95615-08-09-06-Web --- By Michael Hardy Science Applications International Corp. will provide information technology support to the Agriculture Department under a $120 million task order awarded through the General Services Administration's Millennia contract. SAIC's work will aid Agriculture in improving its national crop insurance program. The company's responsibilities include helping the department maintain its legacy systems, re-engineering Agriculture's IT environment and operating and maintaining its hardware and software infrastructure. GSA's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM) awarded the order on behalf of USDA's Risk Management Agency. GSA will manage the performance-based task order through performance metrics. SAIC will provide support to Agriculture's Washington, D.C., headquarters, its Kansas City, Mo., location, and to all 10 regional offices, five compliance offices, Tarleton State University, and USDA's Center for Agriculture Excellence. "FEDSIM is delighted to be able to work with USDA to improve its national crop insurance program and save money for the American taxpayer," said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan in a prepared statement. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 11 20:31:37 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:31:37 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC harvests GSA crop insurance support deal Message-ID: <20060811163130.C60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 August 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC harvests GSA crop insurance support deal http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/29117-1.html --- By Mary Mosquera Contributing Writer Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego has been awarded a $121 million task order from the General Services Administration for IT support services for the Agriculture Department to improve USDA's national crop insurance program. GSA's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center awarded the performance-based task order under its governmentwide Millennia IT contract. The contract will help USDA's Risk Management Agency maintain their legacy systems, re-engineer their current IT environment and also operate and maintain their hardware/software infrastructure. The services aim to help the crop insurance program transform into a broad-based safety net for farmers. SAIC of San Diego has more than 43,000 employees and had annual revenue of $7.8 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. The company ranks No. 3 [1] on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 [2] list of the largest federal IT contractors. Mary Mosquera is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News. [3] --- [1] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/3.html [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2006/ [3] http://www.gcn.com/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 15 03:18:52 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:18:52 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Gets Navy Logistics Deal Message-ID: <20060814231844.E60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Gets Navy Logistics Deal http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=2249203.8449015.1349972.8802546.4943491.929&aID2=103835 --- Science Applications International Corp. announced Aug. 14 that it has received a one-year, $5.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract from the Philadelphia-based Naval Inventory Control Point. The contract calls for SAIC to help the Navy improve reverse logistics and depot-level repairables. It has three one-year option periods, which, if exercised, bring the total estimated value of the contract to $20.4 million. San Diego-based Del Rey Systems & Technology Inc. will participate in the deal. Other teammates are Target Systems of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and ESA Environmental Specialists Inc. of Charlotte, N.C. San Diego-based SAIC has been the city's largest private company based on revenue according to the San Diego Business Journal's 2006 Book of Lists and, for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, reported net revenues of $7.8 billion. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 16 02:01:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:01:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Future Combat Systems Team Successfully Completes Milestone Review Message-ID: <20060815220051.A60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 15 August 2006 ; WebWire Future Combat Systems Team Successfully Completes Milestone Review http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=18521 --- Moves Forward with Design, Build and Test Activities ST. LOUIS, Aug. 15, 2006 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), functioning as the Lead Systems Integrator for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, today announced the successful completion of the Initial Preliminary Design Review (IPDR). The IPDR is the FCS program's most important technical milestone to date and the largest review of the year. During the week-long event held in St. Louis, nearly 1,000 industry and government representatives engaged in a multi-disciplined review of the technical progress of the FCS program, at the system-of-systems and system levels, over the last 12 months. Participants, many of whom joined virtually from more than 30 locations across the country, included representatives from the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Government Accountability Office. The purpose of the review was three-fold: to review FCS program progress in requirements, design, build, integration and test -- confirming the functional baseline for the program; to assess individual systems' readiness to proceed to preliminary design; and to provide a two-year "roadmap" for the next major milestone, the System-of-Systems Preliminary Design Review in 2008. Leading up to IPDR, the program had met 100 percent of associated cost, schedule and performance criteria, demonstrating continued successful execution. "IPDR represents the transition from requirements to design, build, integrate and test," said Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright, program manager, FCS Brigade Combat Team. "Successful completion means the days of PowerPoint slides are over. Within a year, FCS capabilities will be integrated into the current force through our Evaluation Brigade Combat Team (EBCT). The EBCT will deliver to our soldiers new capabilities that are specifically designed to address 21st century threats. Our Army and our troops require these new FCS capabilities sooner rather than later." "Successful completion of IPDR is a tremendous testament to the combined efforts of the FCS One Team members who have worked diligently to keep FCS on cost and on schedule, and is evidence of the continuing progress of the program," said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing vice president-general manager, Combat Systems, and FCS program manager. "With IPDR complete, our focus for the remainder of the year will be on meeting experimentation objectives, delivering software and proceeding with platform-level Preliminary Design Reviews as we prepare for the first spin out of FCS technologies into the current force in 2008." "The IPDR is indicative of what happens when you bring together the best of industry," said Dan Zanini, SAIC senior vice president and FCS deputy program manager. "But it's more than that; it's also a measurement of our technical success, and it therefore represents an important step forward. We've passed a milestone as we enter the next critical phase of the program, which paves the way for early soldier testing and fielding of key technologies." The next near-term program milestone, Experiment 1.1, is under way and runs through early 2007. This three-phased risk mitigation effort will test operational capabilities of the systems slated for early fielding in 2008 as part of the first spin out. SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, with more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2006, the company reported annual revenues of $7.8 billion. SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical problems in national security, homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care, and logistics. SAIC: FROM SCIENCE TO SOLUTIONS. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer; a foremost developer of advanced concepts and technologies; a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 16 11:45:18 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 07:45:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Analysis: Army must afford FCS Message-ID: <20060816074507.H60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 August 2006 ; Monsters & Critics Analysis: Army must afford FCS http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1190741.php/Analysis_Army_must_afford_FCS --- By Pamela Hess WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Hard on the heels of a critical report from the Congressional Budget Office about the affordability of the Army`s Future Combat System program officials told reporters Tuesday the Army couldn`t afford not to develop it. The FCS is a complicated network of weapons, vehicles, robots, unmanned aerial sensors, computer systems and software that will dramatically modernize the Army`s ground forces over the next two decades, but at a price -- $120 billion, or $161 billion when adjusted for inflation. As budget pressures increase on the Pentagon -- as it competes for dollars with Social Security, Medicare and other big ticket spending plans, even as taxes are cut -- FCS is a tempting budget target. And it is expensive to the point of choking the Army: According to the Congressional Budget Office, by 2015 FCS will be absorbing half the service`s annual procurement budget. At the height of the Reagan defense build up, according to the report, only 20 percent of the Army budget was spent on combat vehicles. But Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright, the Army`s program manager for FCS, said the system, when fully deployed, will allow brigades to be 500 men smaller without a loss of capability from the current heavy brigade. And the automated systems in FCS allow 324 soldiers to go back into the infantry for each Brigade Combat Team. He said cutting 500 soldiers from a brigade, everything else remaining equal and saves the Army between $450 million and $700 million. According to Cartwright, given the high cost of pay and benefits and long-term health care, those numbers save the Army in personnel, allowing it to do the same missions or more with fewer soldiers. 'We`re providing not only more soldiers to the fight of the future but enabling them to be more capable,' said Dennis Muilenburg, vice president-general manager, Combat Systems Program Manager, Future Combat Systems, the Boeing Company. Freeing up soldiers is vital: Future battles are likely to be as manpower intensive as the counterinsurgency fight in Iraq, which demands 'boots on the ground' -- it is not a fight that can be won from the air or the seat of a tank. FCS is now at a critical time, both in terms of development and budget. The program was singled out last month by Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee as a major driver in climbing Pentagon budgets, and the House and Senate appropriations committees are separated by about $80 million in their fiscal year 2007 accounts for FCS. The potential for a cut to the program in 2007 is a concerning one to program officials, as the FCS program is on the cusp of providing the first technologies to the current force. Dan Zanini, FCS deputy program manager at SAIC, said the need for two of them has been validated by recent events: a mobile, vertical launch rocket system, and an unmanned sensor that can alert soldiers if a building or room that has been cleared is occupied by enemy fighters again. Zanini noted the number of times Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon went in and cleared a portion of the village only to find later the area had been reoccupied,' said Zanini. 'With some of the sensors we have as you clear those facilities you are able to position the (unattended ground sensor to know) when and who had re-entered into the environment again.' Zanini said the battle in mountainous Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 proved the need for the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, a 15-precision missile launch system that can be towed by a vehicle and controlled by a computer in a Humvee. Army soldiers didn`t have their own indirect fire system in Afghanistan and had to rely on air power to strike enemy positions, a prospect affected by the availability of aircraft and the weather. 'With NLOSLS they bring those indirect fire capabilities and have them at their beck and call,' Zanini said. The two are among a clutch of systems that will be delivered to an experimental brigade combat team for testing in 2008. If they perform well, they will begin transitioning to regular Army BCTs in 2010 at a rate of five a year. Those capabilities won`t necessarily protect FCS from budget cuts and further restructuring, but Cartwright believes the stability of the program -- there has been no cost growth since it was reorganized in 2004 -- and the fact that it is on time and 1 percent under budget for three years, might. 'It doesn`t matter whether you take (the) upper-end estimate ... FCS is a cheaper proposition for the nation and the Army as we go forward with it,' said Cartwright. 'An Abrams (tank) still needs to be refueled every three hours versus every three days with FCS ... I cannot afford not to produce FCS.' 'This program now moved into preliminary design phases. It`s about building real stuff for the current force and the equivalent for future modular brigades,' Cartwright said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Aug 17 22:46:36 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:46:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Supplies Sealift Command Message-ID: <20060817184628.D60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 17 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Supplies Sealift Command http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=78220792.7085482.1350817.7924882.4981268.946&aID2=103900 --- Science Applications International Corp. announced Aug. 17 that it has been awarded an $11.9 million contract by the Military Sealift Command, based in Washington, D.C. SAIC's D.C. offices will provide information technology, systems integration and operations support, among other services, to assist the command, which operates more than 110 ships worldwide. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract has a base period of one year with three one-year options and eight three-month award term periods. The contract with all options exercised has an estimated value of $75 million. The Military Sealift Command carries supplies to military forces in war zones and for worldwide humanitarian efforts. San Diego-based SAIC is the largest private company in San Diego based on revenue, according to the San Diego Business Journal's Book of Lists 2006 with more than $7.8 billion in revenue for the year ended Jan. 31. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 18 10:46:41 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:46:41 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't Message-ID: <20060818064540.F60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 August 2006 ; Washington Post The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485 --- The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't $170 Million Bought an Unusable Computer System By Dan Eggen and Griff Witte Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, August 18, 2006; Page A01 As far as Zalmai Azmi was concerned, the FBI's technological revolution was only weeks away. It was late 2003, and a contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), had spent months writing 730,000 lines of computer code for the Virtual Case File (VCF), a networked system for tracking criminal cases that was designed to replace the bureau's antiquated paper files and, finally, shove J. Edgar Hoover's FBI into the 21st century. It appeared to work beautifully. Until Azmi, now the FBI's technology chief, asked about the error rate. Software problem reports, or SPRs, numbered in the hundreds, Azmi recalled in an interview. The problems were multiplying as engineers continued to run tests. Scores of basic functions had yet to be analyzed. "A month before delivery, you don't have SPRs," Azmi said. "You're making things pretty. . . . You're changing colors." Within a few days, Azmi said, he warned FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that the $170 million system was in serious trouble. A year later, it was dead. The nation's premier law enforcement and counterterrorism agency, burdened with one of the government's most archaic computer systems, would have to start from scratch. The collapse of the attempt to remake the FBI's filing system stemmed from failures of almost every kind, including poor conception and muddled execution of the steps needed to make the system work, according to outside reviews and interviews with people involved in the project. But the problems were not the FBI's alone. Because of an open-ended contract with few safeguards, SAIC reaped more than $100 million as the project became bigger and more complicated, even though its software never worked properly. The company continued to meet the bureau's requests, accepting payments despite clear signs that the FBI's approach to the project was badly flawed, according to people who were involved in the project or later reviewed it for the government. Lawmakers and experts have faulted the FBI for its part in the failed project. But less attention has been paid to the role that the contractor played in contributing to the problems. A previously unreleased audit -- completed in 2005 and obtained by The Washington Post -- found that the system delivered by SAIC was so incomplete and unusable that it left the FBI with little choice but to scuttle the effort altogether. David Kay, a former SAIC senior vice president who did not work on the program but closely watched its development, said the company knew the FBI's plans were going awry but did not insist on changes because the bureau continued to pay the bills as the work piled up. "SAIC was at fault because of the usual contractor reluctance to tell the customer, 'You're screwed up. You don't know what you're doing. This project is going to fail because you're not managing your side of the equation,' " said Kay, who later became the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq. "There was no one to tell the government that they were asking the impossible. And they weren't going to get the impossible." Mueller's inability to successfully implement VCF marks one of the low points of his nearly five-year tenure as FBI director, and he has accepted some of the blame. "I did not do the things I should have done to make sure that was a success," he told reporters last month. SAIC declined three requests for comment. The company told Congress last year that it tried to warn the FBI that its "trial and error" approach to the project would not work, but it said it may not have been forceful enough with the bureau. Whoever is at fault, five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and more than $600 million later, agents still rely largely on the paper reports and file cabinets used since federal agents began chasing gangsters in the 1920s. 1980s Technology Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI had developed a plan, Trilogy, to address its chronic technology problems. The program was made up of three main components: a new computer network, thousands of new personal computer stations and, at its heart, the software system that would come to be known as VCF. The FBI wanted its agents to work in a largely paperless environment, able to search files, pull up photos and scan for information at their own PCs. The old system was based on fusty mainframe technology, with a text-only "green screen" that had to be searched by keywords and could not store or display graphics, photos or scanned copies of reports. What's more, most employees had no PCs. They relied instead on shared computers for access to the Internet and e-mail. A type of memo called an electronic communication had to be printed out on paper and signed by a supervisor before it was sent. Uploading a single document took 12 steps. The setup was so cumbersome that many agents stopped using it, preferring to rely on paper and secretaries. Technologically, the FBI was trapped in the 1980s, if not earlier. "Getting information into or out of the system is a challenge," said Greg Gandolfo, who spent most of his 18-year FBI career investigating financial crimes and public corruption cases in Chicago, Little Rock and Los Angeles. "It's not like 'Here it is, click' and it's in there. It takes a whole series of steps and screens to go through." Gandolfo, who now heads a unit at FBI headquarters that fields computer complaints, said the biggest drawback is the amount of time it takes to handle paperwork and input data. "From the case agent's point of view, you want to be freed up to do the casework, to do the investigations, to do the intelligence," he said. At the start, the software project had relatively modest goals -- and much lower costs. When SAIC beat out four competitors to win the contract in June 2001, the company said it would be earning $14 million in the first year of a three-year deal to update the FBI's case-management system. For SAIC, the contract was relatively minor. The firm, owned by 40,000 employee shareholders, is one of the nation's largest government contractors. The 2001 attacks were a boon to its fortunes, helping to boost its annual revenue, now more than $7 billion. At the FBI, the impact of the attacks was equally significant but certainly less auspicious. As revelations emerged that the bureau had missed clues that could have revealed the plot, its image suffered. Its long-outdated information technology systems drew particular scrutiny. "Prior to 9/11, the FBI did not have an adequate ability to know what it knew," a report by the staff of the Sept. 11 commission concluded. "The FBI's primary information management system, designed using 1980s technology already obsolete when installed in 1995, limited the Bureau's ability to share its information internally and externally." The problems continued to hamper the bureau after the attacks as well: To transmit photographs of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers and other suspects to field offices, headquarters had to fax copies or send compact discs by mail, because the system would not allow them to e-mail a photo securely. In the months after the terrorist attacks, overhauling the case-management system became one of the bureau's top priorities. Deadlines were moved up, requirements grew, and costs ballooned. Along the way, the FBI made a fateful choice: It wanted SAIC to build the new software system from scratch rather than modifying commercially available, off-the-shelf software. Later, the company would say the FBI made that decision independently; FBI officials countered that SAIC pushed them into it. More than two years after Sept. 11, when a team of researchers from the National Research Council showed up to review the status of Trilogy, FBI officials assured them that the bureau had made great strides. That was true in part: By early 2004, two of the three main pillars of the program -- thousands of new PCs and an integrated hardware network -- were well on the way to being delivered and installed. But, as the researchers soon learned, the heart of the makeover, VCF, remained badly off track. In its final report, in May 2004, the NRC team warned that the program was "currently not on a path to success." The review team from the NRC, which is affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences, was made up of more than a dozen scientists and engineers from top universities and leading technology companies, all of them independent of the FBI and its contractors. The report observed that the rollout of the new case-management software had been poorly planned nearly from the beginning. Months after the program was supposed to be complete, it remained riddled with shortcomings: - Agents would not be able to take copies of their cases into the field for reference. - The program lacked common features, such as bookmarking or histories, that would help agents navigate through millions of files. - The system could not properly sort data. - Most important, the FBI planned to launch the new software all at once, with minimal testing beforehand. Doing so, the NRC team concluded, could cause "mission-disruptive failures" if the software did not work, because the FBI had no backup plan. "That was a little bit horrifying," said Matt Blaze, a professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the review team. "A bunch of us were planning on committing a crime spree the day they switched over. If the new system didn't work, it would have just put the FBI out of business." The NRC team found plenty of blame to go around, starting with the FBI itself. Like many government agencies, the bureau had been drained of much of its top talent as skilled managers left for the higher salaries and reduced bureaucracy of the private sector. By 2001, when the VCF program was born, the FBI had few people in house with the expertise to develop the kind of sophisticated information technology systems that it would need. As a result, the agency had been turning increasingly to private contractors for help, a process that only hastened the flow of talent out the door at FBI headquarters. "In essence, the FBI has left the task of defining and identifying its essential operational processes and its IT concept of operations to outsiders," the NRC researchers concluded. "The FBI lacks experienced IT program managers and contract managers, which has made it unable to deal aggressively or effectively with its contractors." Daniel Guttman, a fellow at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in government contracting law, said: "This case just shows the government doesn't have a clue. Yet the legal fiction is that the government knows what it's doing and is capable of taking charge. The contractors are taking advantage of that legal fiction." In the end, the FBI's failure to police the contractors would lead to disastrous results. After the disappointing preview of VCF in late 2003 by Azmi, who was then an adviser to Mueller tasked with reviewing the system, the FBI scrambled to rescue the project. The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded research-and-development firm in El Segundo, Calif., was hired for $2 million in June 2004 to review the program and come up with a "corrective action plan." The conclusion: SAIC had so badly bungled the project that it should be abandoned. In a 318-page report, completed in January 2005 and obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act, Aerospace said the SAIC software was incomplete, inadequate and so poorly designed that it would be essentially unusable under real-world conditions. Even in rudimentary tests, the system did not comply with basic requirements, the report said. It did not include network-management or archiving systems -- a failing that would put crucial law enforcement and national security data at risk, according to the report. "From the documents that define the system at the highest level, down through the software design and into the source code itself, Aerospace discovered evidence of incompleteness, lack of follow-through, failure to optimize and missing documentation," the report said. Others joined Aerospace in highlighting SAIC's role in the failure. The NRC report complains that the contractor dealt with Trilogy as a "business as usual" program, without regard to its importance to national security. Matthew Patton, a programmer who worked on the contract for SAIC, said the company seemed to make no attempts to control costs. It kept 200 programmers on staff doing "make work," he said, when a couple of dozen would have been enough. The company's attitude was that "it's other people's money, so they'll burn it every which way they want to," he said. Patton, a specialist in IT security, became nervous at one point that the project did not have sufficient safeguards. But he said his bosses had little interest. "Would the product actually work? Would it help agents do their jobs? I don't think anyone on the SAIC side cared about that," said Patton, who was removed from the project after three months when he posted his concerns online. Azmi said that "in terms of having a lot of money, we were just coming out of 9/11, and at that time there was a lot of pressure on the FBI to develop capabilities for storing information and actually, for lack of better words, connecting the dots. If SAIC took advantage of that, I would say shame on them." Mueller has also criticized SAIC, telling Congress that the software it produced "was not what it should be in order to make it the effective tool for the FBI, and it requires us now to go a different route." One FBI manager estimated that the scope of the Trilogy project as a whole expanded by 80 percent since it began, according to a February 2005 report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. SAIC has consistently said that it was trying to meet the FBI's needs but that its efforts were undermined by the bureau's chronic indecision. Executive Vice President Arnold Punaro submitted testimony to Congress in February 2005 citing 19 government personnel changes in three years that kept the program's direction in flux. FBI officials, he said, took a "trial and error, 'we will know it when we see it' approach to development." Punaro said the company warned bureau officials that such a method would not work, but he acknowledged that SAIC did not do enough to get the FBI's attention. "We clearly failed to get the cumulative effect of these changes across to the FBI consumer," he said. Punaro also faulted Aerospace, saying that its study was based on an earlier version of VCF software and that the firm "did not bring a sufficient understanding of the uniqueness, complexity and scope of the FBI undertaking to evaluate our product." Starting Over, Again By 2004, even as the news grew worse behind the scenes, FBI officials struggled to put an optimistic spin on their software upgrade. In March, testifying before a House subcommittee, Mueller said that the FBI had experienced "a delay with the contractor" but that the problem had been "righted." He said he expected that "the last piece of Virtual Case File would be in by this summer." Two months later, Azmi -- who had been named the bureau's chief information officer -- pushed back the estimate further, predicting that SAIC would deliver the product in December. But the problems continued to mount. The FBI and SAIC feuded over change orders, system requirements and other issues, according to an investigative report later prepared for the House Appropriations Committee. The FBI also went ahead with a $17 million testing program for the system, one of many missed opportunities to cut its losses, according to the House report. Azmi defends the attempt to save VCF and calls the decision to abandon it in early 2005 "probably the toughest" of his career. The decision to kill VCF meant that the FBI's 30,000-plus employees, including more than 12,000 special agents, had to continue to rely on an "obsolete" information system that put them at "a severe disadvantage in performing their duties," according to the report by Fine, of the Justice Department. "The urgent need within the FBI to create, organize, share and analyze investigative leads and case files on an ongoing basis remains unmet," Fine's office concluded. Maureen Baginski, the FBI's former executive assistant director of intelligence, said the lack of a modern case-management system could hurt the bureau when time is of the essence. Agents and analysts need the new system, she said, to quickly make connections across cases -- especially when they are tackling complex challenges such as unraveling a terrorist plot. Last year, FBI officials announced a replacement for VCF, named Sentinel, that is projected to cost $425 million and will not be fully operational until 2009. A temporary overlay version of the software, however, is planned for launch next year. The project's main contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., will be paid $305 million and will be required to meet benchmarks as the project proceeds. FBI officials say Sentinel has survived three review sessions and is on budget and on schedule. SAIC is not involved. FBI officials say they are awaiting an audit by a federal contracting agency before deciding whether to attempt to recoup costs from the company. In a follow-up to its reviews, Fine's office warned in March that the FBI is at risk of repeating its mistakes with Sentinel because of management turnover and weak financial controls. But Azmi and other FBI officials say Sentinel is designed to be everything VCF was not, with specific requirements, regular milestones and aggressive oversight. Randolph Hite, who is reviewing the program for the Government Accountability Office, said: "When you do a program like this, you need to apply a hat wasn't inherent in VCF. My sense is that it is inherent in Sentinel." But no one really knows how much longer the bureau can afford to wait. "We had information that could have stopped 9/11," sa (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It was sitting there and was not ace problems. . . . We might be in the 22nd century before we get the 21st-century technology." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 18 10:54:14 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:54:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins contract worth up to $75M for IT services Message-ID: <20060818065405.H60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 August 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC wins contract worth up to $75M for IT services http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/08/14/daily52.html --- By Neil Adler Staff Reporter Science Applications International has landed an $11.9 million contract that could reach $75 million to provide ashore information technology and support services to the Military Sealift Command, which operates more than 110 ships worldwide. The one-year contract has three one-year options and eight three-month options, which if exercised would bring the award's total value to $75 million, according to SAIC, an engineering and research firm that is based in San Diego and has significant operations in McLean and elsewhere throughout the Washington area. SAIC will provide project management, systems integration and engineering, ashore operations and global help-desk capabilities. The company will manage the contract from its D.C. offices. The D.C.-based Military Sealift Command plays a key role in providing proactive support to military forces during wartime operations, for U.S. and worldwide humanitarian efforts. The command carries equipment, fuel, supplies and ammunition used to sustain U.S. forces in war zones for as long as necessary. The bulk of these supplies are moved by sea. "Military readiness and rapid response is critical to missions in areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan," says Richard Mackey, a SAIC vice president. The command has field offices in Norfolk; San Diego; Naples, Italy; Manama, Bahrain; and Yokohama, Japan. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Aug 19 12:23:18 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:23:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Contracts for August 18, 2006 Message-ID: <20060819082256.N60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 19 August 2006 ; United States Department of Defense Contracts for August 18, 2006 http://www.defenselink.mil/Contracts/Contract.aspx?ContractID=3312 --- CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense No. 782-06 FOR RELEASE AT August 18, 2006 Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public/Industry(703) 428-0711 CONTRACTS DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Science Applications International Corp., Fairfield, N.J., is being awarded a maximum $250,000,000 fixed price with economic price adjustment contract for maintenance repair and operations supplies contract for the Northwest Region. This is an indefinite delivery/quantity type contract exercising option year one. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Federal civilian agencies. Proposals were Web-solicited and six responded. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Aug. 17, 2007. Contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM500-04-D-BP15). [...] From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Aug 19 12:26:40 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:26:40 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC deserves big share of blame for Trilogy Message-ID: <20060819082600.O60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 August 2006 ; ZDNet Government Blog SAIC deserves big share of blame for Trilogy http://government.zdnet.com/?p=2518 --- The Washington Post takes a deep look [1] today at the troubled FBI's troubled Trilogy system and the true disaster at its heart, the Virtual Case File system or VCF. While Congress and press have held the FBI's feet to the fire for the fiasco, Writers Dan Eggen and Griff Witte have obtained a previously unreleased audit of the project which details the culpability of the contractor, SAIC. Because of an open-ended contract with few safeguards, SAIC reaped more than $100 million as the project became bigger and more complicated, even though its software never worked properly. The company continued to meet the bureau's requests, accepting payments despite clear signs that the FBI's approach to the project was badly flawed, according to people who were involved in the project or later reviewed it for the government. The writers quote David Kay, formerly the US's chief weapons investigator in Iraq, on what was going on inside the company. "SAIC was at fault because of the usual contractor reluctance to tell the customer, 'You're screwed up. You don't know what you're doing. This project is going to fail because you're not managing your side of the equation,' " said Kay, who later became the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq. "There was no one to tell the government that they were asking the impossible. And they weren't going to get the impossible." Two years after 911, the FBI told investigators from the National Research Council they had made great strides. They had in two parts of the project but not in VCF, the heart of the system. There were a few problems there, like agents couldn't take their case records into the field, the system couldn't sort properly, there were no basic navigation aids from the Web era like bookmarks. Most important, the FBI planned to launch the new software all at once, with minimal testing beforehand. Doing so, the NRC team concluded, could cause "mission-disruptive failures" if the software did not work, because the FBI had no backup plan. "That was a little bit horrifying," said Matt Blaze, a professor of computer science at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the review team. "A bunch of us were planning on committing a crime spree the day they switched over. If the new system didn't work, it would have just put the FBI out of business." Does this sound like good project management to you? In point of fact, the question has to be asked, can the government do good project management at all? Daniel Guttman, a fellow at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in government contracting law, said: "This case just shows the government doesn't have a clue. Yet the legal fiction is that the government knows what it's doing and is capable of taking charge. The contractors are taking advantage of that legal fiction." The report the Post obtained was done by The Aerospace Corp. for $2 million to see what corrective action needed to be taken. The conclusion: unsalvagable. Matthew Patton, a programmer who worked on the contract for SAIC, said the company seemed to make no attempts to control costs. It kept 200 programmers on staff doing "make work," he said, when a couple of dozen would have been enough. The company's attitude was that "it's other people's money, so they'll burn it every which way they want to," he said. Patton, a specialist in IT security, became nervous at one point that the project did not have sufficient safeguards. But he said his bosses had little interest. "Would the product actually work? Would it help agents do their jobs? I don't think anyone on the SAIC side cared about that," said Patton, who was removed from the project after three months when he posted his concerns online. --- [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Aug 19 12:39:36 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:39:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] The FBI Software Upgrade That Wasn't Message-ID: <20060819083921.J60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 August 2006 ; Slashdot The FBI Software Upgrade That Wasn't http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/18/132233 --- Davemania writes "Washington Post reports that the FBI's attempt to modernize their department has once again failed. [1] The 170 million dollar Virtual case File system, the agency's second attempt to go paperless is reported to be useless. The finger seems to be pointing at the FBI leadership, greedy contractors and bad software management." >From the article: "It appeared to work beautifully. Until Azmi, now the FBI's technology chief, asked about the error rate. Software problem reports, or SPRs, numbered in the hundreds, Azmi recalled in an interview. The problems were multiplying as engineers continued to run tests. Scores of basic functions had yet to be analyzed. 'A month before delivery, you don't have SPRs,' Azmi said. 'You're making things pretty. . . . You're changing colors.'" --- [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Aug 19 12:47:14 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:47:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Where's The Checkbox For 'New FBI Computer System Is So Bad I Plan To Go On A Crime Spree'? Message-ID: <20060819084643.H60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 19 August 2006 ; Techdirt Where's The Checkbox For 'New FBI Computer System Is So Bad I Plan To Go On A Crime Spree'? http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060818/1613226.shtml --- from the nice-work dept Back in 2004, we wrote about how hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent over the previous four years on a new computer system for the FBI that apparently didn't actually work and was useless at finding terrorists. [1] After that was announced, it still took the FBI another seven months before announcing they were getting rid of the system. [2] After that, it still took another year for them to agree to spend hundreds of millions on a *new* [3] system that won't be ready until 2009 at the earliest. Is it any wonder that FBI employees who are working on the computer system already feel the need to hack the system [4] just to get some work done? If you're wondering how this all came to be, the Washington Post has now done an in-depth report on just how screwed up the process was [5] for building the FBI's computer system. Basically, the FBI handed the project over to the government's favorite secretive tech supplier, SAIC. [6] Rather than actively manage the process, they more or less let SAIC define what it should do. There's some disagreement over who made this decision, but it included having SAIC build a system from scratch -- rather than modify available off-the-shelf offerings (something the FBI insists it won't do this time) [7]. So, you have a government contractor given a multi-million computer project, little oversight and loosely defined objectives. SAIC did pretty much what you'd expect. They took a lot of money from the government (or, if you'd like, from the taxpayers), wrote lots of code, but didn't bother much to make sure it did what the FBI needed it to do. The best part of the article is the quote from a computer science professor who reviewed the system and noted the pure stupidity of trying to launch an entirely new computer system at once with no backup plan, rather than phase it in gradually: "A bunch of us were planning on committing a crime spree the day they switched over. If the new system didn't work, it would have just put the FBI out of business." Comforting, huh? --- [1] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20040512/098203_F.shtml [2] http://techdirt.com/articles/20050113/0954214_F.shtml [3] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060315/0232250.shtml [4] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060706/114254.shtml [5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485_pf.html [6] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030429/0228227.shtml [7] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050310/0258207.shtml From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Aug 21 20:40:24 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:40:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Dangerous Disgrace Message-ID: <20060821163802.R60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 August 2006 ; Newsweek Dangerous Disgrace http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14453669/site/newsweek/ --- The FBI's continued technological incompetence is putting America at risk By Jonathan Alter Everyone's got an Exhibit A of the mind-bending, staggering and almost incomprehensible incompetence of the Bush Era. Iraq. Katrina. Medicare. But let's add one more. Should, God forbid, we be hit again by terrorists, historians will point an unforgiving finger at the computers of the FBI. As The Washington Post reported [1] on August 18, five years after 9/11 the FBI's computer system is still not fixed. How can this be? It's an ugly story of poor management, contractor abuse and an agency that cannot electronically connect the dots--even though nearly everyone agreed in 2001 that developing that ability should be among the top priorities for the United States. It's as if after Pearl Harbor President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered that ships and aircraft be built to fight the Japanese, only to discover that five years later the government had built none. The blame begins with Louis Freeh, who smugly headed the FBI for eight years under President Bill Clinton. Although he claims to have tried to upgrade the bureau's computers in 1995, he failed miserably. In 2001, when any large business in the world that wanted to make money was long since fully automated-and when most American six-year olds could download Little League snapshots-the FBI remained in the horse-and-buggy era. Its rusty mainframes used text-only "green screens" and could not scan reports or transmit photographs. Agents had no PCs and were forced to share e-mail accounts. Because it took 12 steps to upload a single document, most agents gave up and did everything the old-fashioned way-on paper. Remember the period right after 9/11? I was hardly the only one writing about computers at the FBI. [2] The new FBI director, Robert Mueller, insisted he was focused on the task at hand. He spent $170 million on a plan called "Trilogy" that was meant to solve the Bureau's technology problems. >From the start, it was a rip-off. The contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), assigned 200 people to a program that, according to a former employer, could easily have been handled by a dozen. Instead of adapting off-the-shelf software, which any computer consultant with half a brain (make that any person with half a brain ) knows is the only way to go, the company decided to design a software system from scratch. Surprise! It didn't work. If you've read even one of the 500,000 articles in the popular press about software development, it's obvious that the first try never works. The consultants would, naturally, have us believe that the FBI's requirements were so complex and security-related that they needed their own system. This is a crock. Many businesses are larger and more complex than the FBI and they, too, have major security considerations. But this is how SAIC ballooned its contract from $14 million annually to $170 million. Then, when it had clearly failed, the contractor blamed the supervisors within the FBI. Natch. By the time the National Research Council investigated the FBI's progress in May 2004, the results were pathetic. The review team found that three years after 9/11, the system still didn't allow agents to take their cases into the field on laptops. The program did not have bookmarking or archiving features that are standard in the least expensive commercial software. And the system could not properly sort data. Worst of all, the researchers found that the whole system could easily crash and the FBI had no backup plan. "A bunch of us were planning on committing a crime spree the day they switched over," a computer science professor who was on the review team told the Post. After pulling the plug on Trilogy in January, 2005, the FBI started over with a different contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp. Its new system, called Sentinel, is said to be on budget and schedule, but at $305 million dollars it is many times more expensive than what a similar project would cost in the private sector. We're told this system will work some day. Keep your finger crossed. There's enough blame to go around. Why did the Republican Congress, which has abdicated oversight, settle for asking a few pointed questions, then call it a day when told to be patient? Why didn't the White House ride herd on the computer upgrade until it was successfully completed? Why wasn't Mueller fired? The sad truth is that accountability in Washington is dead. We won't get it back until we throw out those responsible. Let's hope it's not too late. --- [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html [2] http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14453927/site/newsweek/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 22 11:07:13 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 07:07:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC to Work With Crop Insurance Provider Message-ID: <20060822070655.C60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 22 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC to Work With Crop Insurance Provider http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=16033833.6661496.1352871.7651433.7937847.168&aID2=104058 --- Science Applications International Corp. announced Aug. 21 that it has been awarded a contract with a maximum value of $120 million. The one-year contract -- awarded by the General Services Administration Federal Systems Integration and Management Center -- has four one-year options. Under the contract, SAIC will manage and operate hardware and software infrastructure for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's risk-management agency, a crop insurance provider. Employees from SAIC's Washington, D.C., office will be handling the contract, to be carried out in Kansas City, Mo. SAIC's Geospatial Technologies Operation, based in Chantilly, Va., will be responsible for program execution. For the last six years, the SAIC arm has provided support to the risk-management agency. San Diego-based SAIC is the largest private company in San Diego based on revenue, at $7.1 billion, according to the San Diego Business Journal's 2006 Book of Lists. SAIC has more than 43,000 employees worldwide. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 22 11:12:10 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 07:12:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] The FBI's fiasco Message-ID: <20060822071141.L60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 August 2006 ; Computerworld Blogs The FBI's fiasco http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/3279 --- By Frank Hayes Last Friday's Washington Post delivered a big front-page postmortem on the FBI's failed Virtual Case File system (registration required). [1] (Computerworld covered the rise and fall of the system all along the way, from early unfounded optimism, [2] through late-stage desperation, [3] and finally full-blown stake-in-the-heart cancellation. [4] I wrote about it here [5] and the aftermath here. [6]) What's a little puzzling is why the Post decided to do its dissection of the failure now, more than a year after VCF was cancelled in early 2005. There doesn't seem to be any news connected to the story (though it does mention a previously unreleased audit of the project obtained by the Post). The lack of news doesn't make the story less compelling, though, since apparently the Official Washington Line on the failure of the VCF project was that it was all the FBI's fault. But Post reporters Dan Eggen and Griff Witte pin plenty of the blame on SAIC, the consulting outfit that was willing to spend like a drunken sailor on a doomed project as long as the FBI kept writing checks for SAIC to keep writing code. According to insiders, the project got out of control early and never had a prayer of recovering. SAIC pushed the FBI to a custom-code approach instead of using off-the-shelf products. The consultancy kept billing for hundreds of programmers on the project when there was only enough real work for dozens. And SAIC pretty much nodded "OK" to anything the FBI wanted to pile into the project, whether it could possibly be done successfully or not, as the cost of the project ballooned by 1200% in the wake of 9/11. Result: A month before it was supposed to go live, the FBI's tests were turning up errors by the hundreds. The software made a nice dog-and-pony show, but it was unusable. And a year later, after the FBI finally managed to pull the plug, SAIC management was in such denial about the cancellation that the consultancy continued to insist that the project was still alive -- even after FBI director Robert Mueller publicly told Congress it was kaput. Now that's a disconnect. If there's a polite way to couch the lesson from this episode, it's that customer oversight of consultant activities is crucial, and that project management can't be left to outsiders getting paid for the project. Oh, and that when a contractor demonstrates that it's willing to screw a customer over, you shouldn't do business with that outfit again. Sound obvious? Sure. But SAIC keeps getting government contracts for jobs a lot like the FBI VCF system. And as long as those checks keep coming, you know what'll happen. --- [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html [2] http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=80474 [3] http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=98980 [4] http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=100352 [5] http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/story/0,10801,100335,00.html [6] http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=102080 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 22 23:25:56 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:25:56 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded NORAD-USNORTHCOM Advisory and Assistance Services (N2A2S) Contract Message-ID: <20060822192546.O60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 22 August 2006 ; SAIC SAIC Awarded NORAD-USNORTHCOM Advisory and Assistance Services (N2A2S) Contract http://www.saic.com/news/2006/aug/22.html --- (SAN DIEGO, CA and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today that it was awarded a performance-based, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with an $800 million ceiling to perform management, operational, and professional activities to support North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). The contract will be carried out by SAIC's Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit and has a base period of one year with four one-year options. Under this contract the SAIC team will continue its current efforts to assist in the development, execution and implementation of plans, programs, procedures, policy, and doctrine. The team will also provide training, analytical assessments and evaluations of complex issues to improve decision-making, management and administration of NORAD and USNORTHCOM processes in support of their respective missions. "The SAIC N2A2S Team is extremely proud to be selected as an industry teammate in support of the NORAD and USNORTHCOM mission to ensure the security and defense of our homeland," said William Ramey, Jr., SAIC manager of the Space and Information Solutions Division. "Our team is committed to helping NORAD and USNORTHCOM fulfill their requirements and to address their most complex and demanding issues." The Information Solutions Division of the Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is responsible for program execution. SAIC leads a team of subcontractors in the Colorado Springs, Washington, DC, and NORAD regions. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 23 11:30:03 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 07:30:03 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] A national disgrace Message-ID: <20060823072922.V60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 23 August 2006 ; Contra Costa Times A national disgrace http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/15339497.htm --- EDITORIAL THE MASSIVE BUNGLING displayed in the FBI's attempt to create a usable computer system for its field agents is nearly unfathomable and is a national disgrace. For those who haven't kept up with the details of this gruesome story, let's recap. Last year, the FBI was forced to scrap a computer project on which they had already spent $170 million because the system was too unreliable. There has been much finger-pointing back and forth between the FBI and Science Applications International Corp., the company contracted to build the custom system. As one might imagine, the FBI says that the fault for the failure lies primarily with SAIC, which did not produce a stable and sound system. But the bureau does accept some responsibility in that it did not pay close enough attention to the work being done by the contractor. Meanwhile, SAIC claims that it warned the FBI that its trial-and-error approach would not work and that the FBI had insisted on 19 changes to the system in three years. But the firm admits that it was not very forceful in those statements to the FBI. And anyone who has been involved in a large, customized computer startup knows that 19 changes in three years is actually a paltry number. It is difficult, if not impossible, from where we sit to determine who is right and who is wrong. But if this runs true to form, it is a relatively sure bet that the truth lies somewhere in between those versions. Whatever the truth of the blame, we do know the truth of the situation and that is that five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the domestic agency charged with protecting us from another such attack continues to operate an obsolete 1980s computer system and its agents rely primarily on paper files and filing cabinets. The central office of al-Qaida headquarters -- whatever cave that may be in -- probably has a more sophisticated system. That simply cannot be acceptable. After ditching the SAIC system, the FBI contracted for a new system with another company. That system is expected to cost $425 million and it won't be fully operational until 2009. That is hardly comforting for those of us counting on the FBI to combat the terror menace here at home. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 23 20:44:50 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:44:50 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Tumbleweed Communications Reveals EAL3 Certification For Its Tumbleweed Validation Authority Product Message-ID: <20060823164423.F60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 23 August 2006 ; Trading Markets Tumbleweed Communications Reveals EAL3 Certification For Its Tumbleweed Validation Authority Product http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/349447/ --- (RTTNews) - Wednesday morning, Tumbleweed Communications Corp. (TMWD), a provider of email security, file transfer security, and identity validation software and appliances, said the Tumbleweed Validation Authority product suite has achieved Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 3 certification, the strongest protection profile for public key infrastructure products. The company said based on extensively adopted open standards and technologies, the Tumbleweed Validation Authority solution validates the status of digital certificates in real time, ensuring that revoked credentials cannot be used for secure email, smart card login, web access, wireless, VPN, or other electronic transactions. Tumbleweed said the U.S. Department of Defense, all branches of the U.S. military, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. intelligence community, and top financial institutions globally rely on the Tumbleweed Validation Authority solution to secure their public key infrastructure transactions. The company said Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), an accredited independent Common Criteria testing lab, evaluated the Tumbleweed Validation Authority product suite against the "Certificate Issuing and Management Components Family of Protection Profiles, Security Level 3", the strongest profile for PKI products. Tumbleweed said SAIC adheres to strict standards, considers numerous real-world application situations, and conducts meticulous and exhaustive testing at the source-code level to determine certifications. TMWD is currently up $0.01 and trading at $2.85. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 23 21:08:25 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:08:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Will Vie for Air Force Work Message-ID: <20060823170306.I60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 23 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Will Vie for Air Force Work http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=73138673.7969045.1353547.62573402.1903058.399&aID2=104110 --- Science Applications International Corp. is among eight prime contractors competing for work under an $800 million ceiling value contract awarded by the 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. According to an Aug. 8 announcement released by the Pentagon, the indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery contract is for work assisting North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in a variety of managerial and executive tasks. At the outset, the deal guarantees $100,000 of work to each of the eight companies. The contract, announced by SAIC on Aug. 22, has a one-year base period and four one-year options, and is a consolidation of more than 30 previous outstanding contracts from NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. The $800 million ceiling value of the new contract is the sum of the values of the 30-plus previous contracts. SAIC's space and geospatial intelligence business unit, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., will carry out the tasks. The information solutions division of the business unit is responsible for program execution. SAIC is the largest private company in San Diego based on revenue, with more than $7.8 billion for the year ended Jan. 31, according to the San Diego Business Journal's 2006 Book of Lists. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 25 01:47:21 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:47:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC reignites plan to go public Message-ID: <20060824214550.P60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 24 August 2006 ; San Diego Union-Tribune SAIC reignites plan to go public http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060824-9999-1b24saic.html --- Shareholders must OK corporate restructuring By Bruce V. Bigelow UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 24, 2006 San Diego's SAIC, which postponed its initial public offering nine months ago, is restarting its plans that would recast the longtime employee-owned conglomerate as a publicly traded company. In a memo to employees yesterday, SAIC Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Dahlberg said the company will amend its stock registration statement early next month, if shareholders approve a proposed corporate reorganization Tuesday. "The prospectus will also show an initial or preliminary IPO price range," Dahlberg wrote in the memo, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "It is contemplated that the final pricing and the IPO will take place during late September/early October." SAIC spokesman Ron Zollars declined to comment beyond the company's SEC filing. In its initial filing almost a year ago, the company, also known as Science Applications International Corp., disclosed plans to raise up to $1.73 billion -- mostly to provide liquidity to its employee owners. However, whether the government contractor can match last year's valuation in the current market is another matter. "They're going up against a crummy IPO marketplace and real investor nervousness," said Paul Kedrosky, executive director of the Von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California San Diego. At least 16 IPOs have been withdrawn in the past two months, and a majority of the companies whose stock began trading this year have seen their share price decline since their initial offering, Kedrosky said. "So you don't have a lot of assurance about the aftermarket performance of IPOs," he said. SAIC's Dahlberg noted that the stock prices of SAIC's publicly traded peers have declined since June and SAIC's "current and projected performance reflects a slowdown in growth from our historical performance." In such an environment, he warned, the IPO price of new shares and a planned dividend could be lower than the $47.28-a-share price set by SAIC's board in June. Because SAIC is an employee-owned company, its board sets the price of company shares four times a year, using a formula that includes such factors as stockholders' equity and net income in previous quarters. The board also uses an independent appraisal firm to ensure that the stock's valuation is set within a reasonable range. The proposed reorganization would eliminate SAIC's internal pricing and trading mechanisms, and it would enable trading on the New York Stock Exchange to determine the price of SAIC shares. Under the restructuring, the existing company would become a wholly owned subsidiary of a new SAIC. The change is intended to preserve many aspects of employee ownership, such as giving employee shareholders a tenfold advantage in voting rights. SAIC's initial public stock offering was expected to take place during the first three months of this year. However, the company postponed its IPO in December, citing unexpected costs and other troubles in a 2003 contract with the Greek government to install a command-and-control security system for the 2004 Olympic Games. The company said the Greek government had refused to make certain payments for the system, citing numerous "omissions and deviations" with software developed for the system. SAIC also said in December that it has lost $115 million on the $305 million contract. In May, SAIC said it had completed an internal review of the Olympics contract and found no problems with the internal procedures involved with the agreement. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 25 01:51:53 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:51:53 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Has Sights on IPO Message-ID: <20060824215138.P60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 24 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Has Sights on IPO http://www.sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=28211026.7114779.1353872.7836992.524494.867&aID2=104135 --- Ramping up to an initial public offering, Chief Executive Officer Ken Dahlberg of Science Applications International Corp. released a memo on Aug. 23 announcing that the company expects to file an amendment to its IPO registration statement after receiving approval from stockholders next week. The amendment will include financial statements from the first half of the current fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31. The amendment will also include a preliminary IPO price range. SAIC will then embark on a "road show," where executives will give investors information on the company, as well as gauge investor demand and current market and industry trends. This input will be relayed to the underwriters (Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns) who will use the information to calculate at what price they would purchase shares, which plays an important role in determining the final IPO price. According to a company proxy filed Aug. 1, the special stockholders' meeting on Aug. 29 will be held to approve the merger of what is being called "Old SAIC" with "New SAIC," where Old SAIC will be a wholly owned subsidiary of New SAIC. After the merger, the company will then proceed with its IPO when the company "believes that the offering is likely to be well-received," according to the proxy. San Diego-based SAIC is an employee-owned company with more than 43,000 employees worldwide and roughly 4,800 local full-time employees. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Aug 25 20:34:42 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:34:42 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins Defense Department contract worth nearly $60M Message-ID: <20060825163433.Y60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 25 August 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC wins Defense Department contract worth nearly $60M http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/08/21/daily58.html --- by Neil Adler Staff Reporter Science Applications International received a contract worth up to $59.8 million to support the U.S. Joint Forces Command, a unit of the Department of Defense focused on the transformation of military capabilities. San Diego-based SAIC, an engineering and research company with a huge presence in the Washington area, says the base term of the contract is one year, with four one-year options. The bulk of work under this award will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. SAIC and its team will assess current capabilities and develop recommendations to improve the conduct of joint fires, which occur when two or more armed services use weapons in a coordinated mission. SAIC and its partners will develop products to improve combat identification, training, equipment and systems. They will also provide data collection and analytical support. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Aug 28 11:09:39 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 07:09:39 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Revisits Postponed Plans for Public Offering Message-ID: <20060828070928.I60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 August 2006 ; Washington Post SAIC Revisits Postponed Plans for Public Offering http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700715.html --- Page D02 Government contractor Science Applications International Corp. may proceed with its long-delayed plans to go public sometime this fall, according to a letter to employees and stockholders issued last week by chief executive Ken Dahlberg. The company, which had nearly $8 billion in revenue last year and has 16,000 employees in the Washington area, had considered an initial public offering for early 2006. But those plans were postponed because of troubles with a security contract for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Now Dahlberg says the employee-owned, San Diego-based company is again actively looking at an IPO. The company's stockholders meet this week, and Dahlberg plans to present a timetable that could result in an offering toward the end of September or early October. The company would set an initial price range early next month, and executives would embark on a road show soon after. In his letter, Dahlberg cited "a slow down in growth from our historical performance due to the increasing challenges of our business environment" in warning that the IPO price may end up being below the price set for SAIC shares by the company's board in June. Dahlberg also cautioned that it is not certain the firm will go public. He said that decision will come only after the road show, when he and the board will determine "whether market conditions warrant proceeding with the offering after all relevant information is known." -- Griff Witte From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Aug 28 21:07:02 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:07:02 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Buys Applied Ordnance Message-ID: <20060828170619.S60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Buys Applied Ordnance http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=28537495.2900509.1356472.7684392.158897.948&aID2=104335 --- Science Applications International Corp. announced the completed acquisition of Waldorf, Md.-based Applied Ordnance Technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SAIC made its announcement Aug. 28. A weapons systems design and development company, Applied Ordnance Technology employs 165 people in six offices on the East Coast. Applied Ordnance has worked closely with Department of Defense customers. San Diego-based research and engineering firm SAIC employs more than 43,000 in 150 cities worldwide and last year was the largest private company based on revenue in San Diego County, according to the San Diego Business Journal's 2006 Book of Lists. -- Andy Killion From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 29 02:20:19 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:20:19 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC delays shareholder vote on IPO to Sept. 27 Message-ID: <20060828222010.V60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 August 2006 ; San Jose Mercury News SAIC delays shareholder vote on IPO to Sept. 27 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15383034.htm --- ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO - Science Applications International Corp. on Monday delayed a shareholder vote that could clear the way for one of the nation's largest employee-owned companies to sell its shares to the public. The shareholder meeting, initially scheduled Tuesday in McLean, Va., will take place Sept. 27 to allow voters more time to study pension-plan rules that President Bush signed into law this month, said Kenneth Dahlberg, the defense contractor's chairman and chief executive officer. "Although I am disappointed with the delay, it is the right thing to do so that employees and stockholders are completely informed before we move forward with our plans to complete the IPO," Dahlberg wrote to employees and shareholders. In its initial filing last year, San Diego-based SAIC disclosed plans to raise up to $1.73 billion and spend the money on a special dividend to its employee-owners. At the time, SAIC said it had become too expensive to buy its shares and that it wanted to use its publicly traded stock as currency for acquisitions. Employees buy and sell shares among themselves once every three months at a price fixed by the board. They must agree to sell when leaving the company. SAIC initially planned the IPO for early this year but postponed it because it wanted to first resolve a contract dispute with the Greek government to install a security system for the 2004 Olympic Games. In May, SAIC said an internal review of the contract found no problems with its internal procedures. Last week, SAIC said it would amend its stock registration statement in early September if shareholders approved a corporate reorganization plan Tuesday. The proposed reorganization would eliminate SAIC's internal pricing and trading mechanisms, and it would enable trading on the New York Stock Exchange to determine the share price. SAIC, which has more than 43,000 employees, performs some of the U.S. government's most sensitive security work, from redesigning Army combat systems to bioweapons defense and improving electronic snooping for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency. The company posted a profit of $927 million on revenue of $7.79 billion in its fiscal year ended Jan. 31. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 29 11:24:32 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 07:24:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC acquires Applied Ordnance Technology Message-ID: <20060829072423.T60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 August 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC acquires Applied Ordnance Technology http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/08/28/daily2.html --- by Neil Adler Staff Reporter Science Applications International Corp. has purchased weapons-systems company Applied Ordnance Technology for an undisclosed amount. Applied Ordnance Technology, founded in 1984, has about 165 employees spread among its Waldorf headquarters and other offices in Arlington and Stafford, Va., Indian Head and Lexington Park, Md., Dover, N.J., and Johnstown, Pa. SAIC, a San Diego-based research and engineering company with a large presence in the Washington area, says the company's workers will continue to operate at their present sites. Applied Ordnance Technology will transition into SAIC's naval maritime solutions unit. The company serves the Department of Defense with products and services focused on ordnance and weapons systems. Its work includes engineering and design, logistics, systems safety, information technology and other applications. SAIC, which is contemplating an IPO, has more than 43,000 employees worldwide among 400 offices. The company occupies 2.7 million square feet in the Washington region, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 29 11:28:47 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 07:28:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] City of OR mulls nuclear facility Message-ID: <20060829072826.U60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 August 2006 ; Knoxville News Sentinel City of OR mulls nuclear facility http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4952161,00.html --- Council to consider $5M grant for study By FRANK MUNGER OAK RIDGE - Oak Ridge is showing tentative interest in hosting a facility that would process or treat highly radioactive spent fuel from U.S. nuclear reactors. Oak Ridge City Council will meet Sept. 5 to consider a resolution supporting an application for a $5 million grant to study 4,000 acres on the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge reservation as a possible site for a nuclear facility. Grant applications are due Sept. 7. As part of its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program, the Bush administration wants to develop capabilities to process spent fuel to minimize its hazards and extract useful products from the highly radioactive mix. DOE announced earlier that it would set aside $20 million for detailed studies of possible sites, with up to $5 million available for individual sites. In a draft memo to city council members, Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw wrote: "Oak Ridge could play a significant role in meeting the needs of this new initiative, and the site evaluation will be instrumental in determining the specific technical capabilities and valuable resources Oak Ridge could offer." Bradshaw said the city's support was important in getting the grant money, but he emphasized that supporting the initial studies does not commit the city to accepting a nuclear facility. "Should Oak Ridge be deemed a viable site, the council will need to participate in further review and discussion," Bradshaw said in his memo. Any project that makes Oak Ridge a destination point for highly radioactive spent fuel is bound to have some opposition, even though Oak Ridge - Tennessee's "Atomic City" - is widely regarded as being nuclear friendly. John Shewairy, public affairs manager in DOE's Oak Ridge office, acknowledged the potential for negative fallout. At this stage, federal officials want to gauge local interest before proceeding, he said. "A decision to support this particular DOE mission is one the community is going to have to make," Shewairy said Monday. "If they're interested in supporting the department's initiative, then we'll have to wait and see what that brings with it." The federal agency plans to help develop two types of facilities: a processing plant to extract useful products from the nuclear fuel and a burner reactor that would generate electricity while "transmuting" some of the fuel's long-lived radioactive elements into shorter-lived fission products. According to Bradshaw's memo, the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, is handling the grant application. CROET is a non-profit organization that supports economic development programs and use of surplus federal properties. Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, is reportedly involved in the effort, but SAIC vice president Mike Cuddy was unavailable for comment Monday. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 29 23:28:43 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:28:43 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] New federal law forces company to delay plans Message-ID: <20060829192745.F60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 August 2006 ; San Diego Union-Tribune New federal law forces company to delay plans http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060829-9999-1b29saic.html --- By Bruce V. Bigelow UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Changes in federal pension law that President Bush signed two weeks ago have forced San Diego-based SAIC to postpone a crucial shareholder vote required before the company can stage its initial public stock offering. In a memo to employees yesterday, SAIC Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Dahlberg said the shareholder vote on a proposed corporate reorganization will be delayed by a month. Dahlberg said the vote, which was part of a special shareholder meeting set for today in McLean, Va., has been rescheduled for Sept. 27. It is the second time in less than a year the government contractor has delayed its plans to go public. It also comes amid a waning appetite on Wall Street for new stock offerings. "Industry valuation multiples are clearly down," said Joel Reed of RA Capital Group, a San Diego investment banking firm. "They missed their optimal timing" on the IPO. With nearly $7.8 billion in sales last year, the research and engineering conglomerate also known as Science Applications International Corp. ranks as one of the nation's biggest employee-owned companies. SAIC disclosed plans last Sept. 1 to raise up to $1.73 billion through an IPO. In its filings, the company said most of the proceeds from the stock sale would be distributed to SAIC's employee shareholders. [ Insert: IPO Woe ] September 2005: SAIC files plans for a $1.7 billion initial public offering. The move represents a significant departure from the course set by founder J. Robert Beyster and is part of a deeper retooling of the structure that SAIC uses to raise capital. December 2005: SAIC postpones IPO, citing continuing troubles with a security contract for the 2004 Olympic Games. July: SAIC restarts plans for its IPO and schedules a special meeting for Aug. 29 for a shareholders vote needed to clear the way. Yesterday: SAIC postpones shareholders vote to Sept. 27. [ End Insert ] But the company delayed the IPO in December, citing an unforeseen loss in a troubled contract to build a command-and-control security network for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. SAIC said an internal probe found no problems in the way its contracts are handled and officially restarted the IPO process in July. Last week, SAIC set a target window of late September or early October for the stock offering. But SAIC apparently failed to anticipate the effects of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which Bush signed Aug. 17. "The delay is unavoidable and necessary to provide you with time to understand the implications of the recently adopted Pension Protection Act of 2006 on the Company and its retirement plans," Dahlberg wrote in his memo. Even though Dahlberg blamed the delay on the new law, he did not explain how or why it had affected the IPO countdown. SAIC spokesman Ron Zollars declined to comment beyond the company's SEC filing. Dahlberg also hinted there might be deeper issues. "Among other things," he said in the memo, "this 900-page legislation provides participants with rights to diversify or sell company stock in retirement plans." The new law includes a diversification requirement that is meant to ensure that employees who have invested in their employer's stock will not be locked in if it starts to lose value, said Karen Ferguson of the Pension Rights Center in Washington, D.C. Under the law, if a company matches employee contributions to a 401(k) plan using company stock, an employee with three years of service will be able to diversify by transferring the value of the stock into mutual funds or other kinds of investments offered by the plan. The provision was intended to prevent a repeat of what happened during the financial meltdown at Enron, when employees were prevented from selling the Enron shares they held in their 401(k) retirement plans. In its IPO filings, SAIC disclosed plans to convert its existing shares into new preferred shares that would represent a controlling stake in the new SAIC holding company. At the same time, the company would create a class of common shares that would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SAI. Only the common shares would be publicly traded. SAIC may have structured the new preferred shares "in a way in which there would be no public market for them," said Norman Stein, a pension expert and law professor at the University of Alabama. If SAIC's plan restricts trading of its preferred shares, Stein said the characteristics of those shares may have to be changed so employees can sell them to diversify. SAIC specializes in providing information technology services for the U.S. military and some of the government's most secretive agencies. It employs more than 43,000 people. The company also provides research and engineering services that include designing Army combat systems and basic research on nuclear weapons and other programs. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Aug 29 23:30:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:30:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Delays IPO Vote Message-ID: <20060829192949.I60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 August 2006 ; San Diego Business Journal SAIC Delays IPO Vote http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=49507344.3115963.1356784.7663029.9778057.392&aID2=104359 --- Science Applications International Corp. this week delayed a key meeting on its path to an initial public offering. In a memo released Aug. 28, company chairman and CEO Ken Dahlberg said business at the Aug. 29 SAIC stockholders' meeting will be postponed until Sept. 27. Dahlberg said the delay was "unavoidable and necessary" because employees and stockholders need to know the implications of the new Pension Protection Act of 2006. President Bush signed the bill Aug. 17. Currently SAIC is an employee-owned company. The only thing left on the agenda for SAIC's Aug. 29 meeting will be to adjourn until Sept. 27. -- Brad Graves From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Aug 30 21:51:12 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:51:12 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] FBI Shows Off Counterterrorism Database Message-ID: <20060830175055.H60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 30 August 2006 ; Washington Post FBI Shows Off Counterterrorism Database http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR2006082901520.html?sub=AR --- By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Staff Writer Page A06 The FBI has built a database with more than 659 million records -- including terrorist watch lists, intelligence cables and financial transactions -- culled from more than 50 FBI and other government agency sources. The system is one of the most powerful data analysis tools available to law enforcement and counterterrorism agents, FBI officials said yesterday. The FBI demonstrated the database to reporters yesterday in part to address criticism that its technology was failing and outdated as the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks nears. Privacy advocates said the Investigative Data Warehouse, launched in January 2004, raises concerns about how long the government stores such information and about the right of citizens to know what records are kept and correct information that is wrong. The data warehouse is an effort to "connect the dots" that the FBI was accused of missing in the months before the 2001 attacks, bureau officials said. About a quarter of the information comes from the FBI's records and criminal case files. The rest -- including suspicious financial activity reports, no-fly lists, and lost and stolen passport data -- comes from the Treasury, State and Homeland Security departments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. "That's where the real knowledge comes from . . . sharing information," said Gurvais Grigg, acting director of the FBI's Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, who helped develop the system. In a demonstration, Grigg sat at a computer and typed in the name "Mohammad Atta," one of the 19 hijackers in 2001. The system can handle variants of names and up to 29 variants on birth dates. He typed "flight training" in the query box and pulled up 250 articles relating to Atta. The system, designed by Chiliad Inc. of Amherst, Mass., can be programmed to send alerts to agents on new information, Grigg said. Names, Social Security numbers and driver's license details can be linked and cross-matched across hundreds of millions of records. No top secret information is in the system, officials said. Grigg said that before 2002, it would take 32,222 hours to run 1,000 names and birth dates across 50 databases. Now agents can make such a search in 30 minutes or less, he said. The 13,000 agents and analysts who use the system make an average 1 million queries a month, Grigg said. The system does not reach into the databases themselves but mines copies that are updated regularly, he said. Irrelevant information can be purged or restricted, and incorrect information is corrected, he said. Willie T. Hulon, executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch, said that generally information is not removed from the system unless there is "cause for removal." Every data source is reviewed by security, legal and technology staff members, and a privacy impact statement is created, Grigg said. The FBI conducts in-house auditing so that each query can be tracked, he said. David Sobel, senior counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the Federal Register has no record of the creation of such a system, a basic requirement of the Privacy Act. He also said the FBI's use of an internal privacy assessment undercuts the intent of the privacy law. FBI officials said the database is in "full compliance" with the law. Sobel said he learned under a Freedom of Information Act disclosure last week that the system includes 250 million airline passenger records, stored permanently. "It appears to be the largest collection of personal data ever amassed by the federal government," he said. "When they develop the capability to cross-reference and data-mine all these previously separate sources of information, there are significant new privacy issues that need to be publicly debated." Michael Morehart, chief of the FBI's Terrorist Financing Operations Section, has testified to Congress about some aspects of the system. He said that Treasury Department documents included in the database have helped counterterrorism investigations significantly. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Aug 31 23:51:32 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:51:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] SAIC Delays Shareholder Vote on IPO Message-ID: <20060831195120.S60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 August 2006 ; MSN Money (AP) SAIC Delays Shareholder Vote on IPO http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20060828&ID=5976866 --- SAN DIEGO (AP) - Science Applications International Corp. on Monday delayed a shareholder vote that could clear the way for one of the nation's largest employee-owned companies to sell its shares to the public. The shareholder meeting, initially scheduled Tuesday in McLean, Va., will take place Sept. 27 to allow voters more time to study pension-plan rules President Bush signed into law this month, said Kenneth Dahlberg, the defense contractor's chairman and chief executive. "Although I am disappointed with the delay, it is the right thing to do so that employees and stockholders are completely informed before we move forward with our plans to complete the IPO," Dahlberg wrote to employees and shareholders. In its initial filing last year, San Diego-based SAIC disclosed plans to raise up to $1.73 billion and spend the money on a special dividend to its employee-owners. At the time, SAIC said it had become too expensive to buy its shares and that it wanted to use its publicly traded stock as currency for acquisitions. Employees buy and sell shares among themselves once every three months at a price fixed by the board. They must agree to sell when leaving the company. SAIC initially planned the IPO for early this year but postponed it because it wanted to first resolve a contract dispute with the Greek government to install a security system for the 2004 Olympic Games. In May, SAIC said an internal review of the contract found no problems with its internal procedures. Last week, SAIC said it would amend its stock registration statement in early September if shareholders approved a corporate reorganization plan Tuesday. The proposed reorganization would eliminate SAIC's internal pricing and trading mechanisms, and it would enable trading on the New York Stock Exchange to determine the share price. SAIC, which has more than 43,000 employees, performs some of the U.S. government's most sensitive security work, from redesigning Army combat systems to bioweapons defense and improving electronic snooping for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency. The company posted a profit of $927 million on revenue of $7.79 billion in its fiscal year ended Jan. 31. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Aug 31 23:54:32 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:54:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [saic] Contracts for August 31, 2006 Message-ID: <20060831195344.G60331-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 August 2006 ; United States Department of Defense Contracts for August 31, 2006 http://www.defenselink.mil/Contracts/Contract.aspx?ContractID=3321 --- CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense No. 841-06 FOR RELEASE AT August 31, 2006 Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public/Industry(703) 428-0711 CONTRACTS NAVY [...] Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a potential $6,080,435 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Command Control, Communications, Computer and Intelligence (C4I) software applications and databases. Specific efforts will include engineering products related to C4I software applications and database or database management systems for current and new C4I systems. System engineering efforts may include support for the web-enablement of applications and services to support service oriented architectures and net-centric warfare efforts. The technical support shall entail the full range of software development including system requirements, design, implementation, integration, and documentation. This contract is one of six contracts awarded: all six awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This one-year contract includes four, one-year options, which, if exercised, will bring the potential, cumulative value of the contract to $28,915,647. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed August 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and posting to the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website, with 10 offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-06-D-0028). [...] DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Science Applications International Corporation, Fairfield, N.J., is being awarded a maximum $500,000,000 fixed price with economic price adjustment for maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplies for the Northeast Region, Zone 1. This is an indefinite delivery/quantity contract exercising option year 1. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. Proposals were Web-solicited and 7 responded. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Date of performance completion is Aug. 30, 2007. Contracting activity is Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP), Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM500-04-D-BP24).