From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 1 03:35:22 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:35:22 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC gets $9.5M Navy pact Message-ID: <20061130223512.L2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 30 November 2006 ; Business Week SAIC gets $9.5M Navy pact http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8LNMELG0.htm --- WASHINGTON -- The Navy said Thursday it awarded a contract modification worth $9.5 million to Science Applications International Corp. The pact, part of a previously awarded contract, will exercise an option for technical engineering and program services for the Tomahawk missle program for the U.S. Navy and the United Kingdom. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md.; Lexington Park, Md.; and other U.S. locations and will be completed by November 2007. Shares of SAIC dropped 7 cents to close at $18.97 on the New York Stock Exchange. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 4 12:19:43 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 07:19:43 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Science Applications' new digs to be ready sooner Message-ID: <20061204071935.P2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 4 December 2006 ; Orlando Sentinel Science Applications' new digs to be ready sooner http://www.orlandosentinel.com/technology/orl-tech0406dec04,0,1216335.story --- Richard Burnett and Chris Cobbs Sentinel Staff Writers Science Applications International Corp.'s Orlando unit has accelerated its timetable for completing its expansion in the Central Florida Research Park. The information-technology company, based in San Diego, said it plans to finish construction and move into the multimillion-dollar building next August, a few months earlier than expected. SAIC said it will consolidate its Orlando operations in the 83,000-square-foot facility, which is being built on a 9-acre site adjacent to the company's existing complex in the research park. When completed, the new facility will hold about 500 SAIC employees, the company said. That includes its current Orlando work force, plus about 50 new jobs tied to new government contracts. SAIC is one of the major contractors in Central Florida's military training-simulation industry, touted as the nation's largest cluster of such companies. The company specializes in software development, network management and other technical support services for training simulators and war-game systems. Last week, an industry team led by SAIC's Orlando unit won a $95 million contract to provide information technology services to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's ballistic-missile defense system. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Dec 5 21:06:22 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 16:06:22 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Schedules Third Quarter FY2007 Earnings Release and Conference Call Message-ID: <20061205160616.K2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 5 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) SAIC Schedules Third Quarter FY2007 Earnings Release and Conference Call http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061205/nytu049.html?.v=74 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) will issue its third quarter Fiscal Year 2007 earnings press release after close of market Tuesday, December 12, 2006. Management will discuss the results in a conference call beginning at 5 p.m. EST. The conference call will be Webcast live on SAIC's public Web site (http://www.saic.com). An archived version of the conference call, along with the 2006 third quarter financial results news release, also will be available on the Web site. SAIC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. government civil agencies, as well as to customers in selected commercial markets. With more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide, SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical challenges requiring innovative solutions for customers' mission-critical functions. SAIC had annual revenues of $7.8 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2006. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Dec 5 21:08:05 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 16:08:05 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded Contract for 23 Military Mobile VACIS(R) Inspection Systems Message-ID: <20061205160731.R2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 5 December 2006 ; Aerospace News SAIC Awarded Contract for 23 Military Mobile VACIS(R) Inspection Systems http://aerospace-news.com/2006/12/saic-awarded-contract-for-23-military.htm --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE:SAI) announced today the receipt of an order from the U.S. Army through the Army Research Lab for 23 ruggedized mobile VACIS(R) inspection systems. Developed from the same technology behind SAIC's successful commercial VACIS(R) inspection systems, of which more than 300 have been installed to date, the Military Mobile VACIS(R) Inspection System mounts the core, commercial VACIS inspection module, the VACIS(R) Imaging Kit, on military High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV). The result is a ruggedized, all-terrain, self-relocatable non-intrusive inspection system that provides the user with a capability to perform inspections in remote locations not normally accessible by conventional inspection systems. "We are very pleased to be selected for delivery of these systems, which will make an immediate impact in helping to protect our troops overseas, securing vital assets and aiding the fight against terrorism," said Alex Preston, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Security and Transportation Business Unit. The units awarded on this contract will include enhanced protection for operators through up-armoring of the vehicle platform and the use of remote operation capability through a dedicated data link. The Military Mobile VACIS(R) provides operational flexibility through supporting bi-directional moving scan and stationary scan modes. SAIC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. government civil agencies, as well as to customers in selected commercial markets. With more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide, SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical challenges requiring innovative solutions for customers' mission-critical functions. SAIC had annual revenues of $7.8 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2006. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Dec 5 21:10:15 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 16:10:15 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Engenuity's AI.implant is Selected to Enhance OneSAF'R' Capabilities Message-ID: <20061205161008.E2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 5 December 2006 ; Market Wire Engenuity's AI.implant is Selected to Enhance OneSAF'R' Capabilities http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=191482 --- Engenuity to bring complex, scalable artificial intelligence to urban simulations for OneSAF ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 05, 2006 -- Engenuity Technologies Inc. (TSX: EGY), a leading provider of solutions for the development of high-end visualization and simulation applications, today announced that Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in conjunction with the US Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation (PEO STRI), and United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM), has combined Engenuity's AI.implant with OneSAF (One Semi-Automated Forces) to bring enhanced realism and efficiency to military simulations. AI.implant's unique ability to produce scalable, behaviorally realistic crowds is an essential enhancement when creating simulations for Joint Urban Operations (JUO) scenarios. AI.implant compliments OneSAF's existing military artificial intelligence (AI) components with new functionalities such as non-doctrinal behavior and visual brain authoring for a large number of non-combatants. OneSAF simulation technology and tools provide an integrated approach to simulation. It enables the Army and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) to create a virtually limitless variety of computer-generated environments, military units, individual entities, behaviors, and scenarios to meet their diverse needs. SAIC's integration of the AI.implant technology brings real-world crowds, riots, and panicking to the simulated environment as a means of better preparing troops for engagements in conflict zones. "Engenuity's AI.implant helps OneSAF continue to push the technology envelope in the military training and simulation arena," said Dr. Paul Kruszewski, chief technology officer, Engenuity Technologies. "We are very excited to be part of this major initiative. AI.implant's pedigree as a proven game technology and its agile and disruptive AI framework makes it a perfect fit for next generation simulation projects such as OneSAF." The integration of AI.implant into OneSAF will be demonstrated in both the SAIC and USJFCOM booths at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), in Orlando, Florida on December 4 - 7, 2006. About Engenuity Technologies Inc. Engenuity Technologies Inc. (TSX: EGY) is a global leader in visualization and simulation software solutions for the aerospace, defense, automotive, games and entertainment markets. The company's products and services are currently used by more than 800 customers in 40 countries, including many of the world's largest organizations. Engenuity has offices and distributors throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. www.engenuitytech.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 6 21:38:15 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 16:38:15 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] XML 2006: XML in Legislation Message-ID: <20061206163802.J2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 6 December 2006 ; Palimpsest (Blog) XML 2006: XML in Legislation http://www.scriptorium.com/palimpsest/2006/12/xml-2006-xml-in-legislation.html --- Timothy Arnold-Moore of SAIC (I think). Good presenter with a sense of humor. He points out again [1] that legislation has a shelf life of hundreds of years and so a typical word processing format, which lasts about 10 years, is really not an option. Look! A picture of the Magna Carta to illustrate his point. Bonus points for use of graphics. Even if he did (as I just did) pull it from Wikipedia. Best practices for legislation: * Updates are made to bills from the floor of the legislative chamber and are thus near-instant. * Provide information about bill status, proposed amendments, consolidated form of amendments * Provide the "as made" versions as soon as enacted * Consolidate amendments unofficially. Side note: The US Code takes more than two years for official updates. (ed: That is pathetic.) Working with legislative XML requires some heavy lifting in revision tracking. Interesting. They have the proposed act in one document and a separate Change Description Document. They integrate the two to produce the amended version(s). Nice demo of the Tasmanian EnAct system. This presenter is familiar with the concept of "show, don't tell." They use an SAIC product, TeraText [2], as the foundation. --- [1] http://www.scriptorium.com/palimpsest/2006/12/panel-part-iii.html [2] http://www.teratext.com/home.html From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 6 21:40:18 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 16:40:18 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded J63 Enterprise Command and Control Advanced Technology Services Contract Message-ID: <20061206164011.R2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 6 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) SAIC Awarded J63 Enterprise Command and Control Advanced Technology Services Contract http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061206/dcw002.html?.v=81 --- MCLEAN, Va. /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today it won a contract from J63 Enterprise Command and Control Advanced Technology Services (EC2ATS) to provide a full range of enterprise services and solutions to the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center, Charleston (SSCC), S.C. Work will be performed in Charleston and the Tidewater, Va., and Washington, D.C., metro areas. The single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, has a one-year base term with two one-year options and four one-year award term options for an overall estimated value of $423 million if the customer exercises all options. "The EC2ATS contract is a strategic win for the company that allows SAIC to expand our involvement with the SPAWAR Systems Center in Charleston," said Deb Alderson, president of SAIC's System and Network Solutions Group. "This is our first prime contract with SPAWAR Charleston, and we are looking forward to a long and successful relationship with SSCC and their customers." Throughout the contract, SAIC and its teammates will provide a spectrum of engineering, acquisition, implementation and operational sustainment support to branches of the military and federal agencies. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Dec 7 12:17:04 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 07:17:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] UH Manoa College of Engineering receives gift from SAIC Message-ID: <20061207071658.H2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 7 December 2006 ; University of Hawaii UH Manoa College of Engineering receives gift from SAIC http://www.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/uhnews?20061205081423 --- Fellowship award from San Diego-based company adds to Industrial Affiliates Program The University of Hawai.i at Manoa's College of Engineering has received a gift of $25,000 from Science Applications International Corporation [SAIC, NYSE: SAI] to support graduate student fellowships. "SAIC is honored to participate in UH Manoa's College of Engineering Industrial Affiliates Program," said Trey Smith, SAIC president of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Group. "SAIC's Fellowship Award will expand the strong relationship we have with UH to advance and apply science, technology and engineering knowledge." College of Engineering Dean Peter Crouch said, "We are fortunate to be able to nurture mutually supportive relationships with private industry partners such as SAIC to assure access to cutting edge technology and current industry practices. We are grateful for this expression of confidence in our students, faculty and programs." In addition to joint research projects with the College of Engineering, SAIC supports the UH Institute for Astronomy's PanSTARRS telescope program, Maui High Performance Computing Center operations and other projects with the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 8 12:18:45 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 07:18:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Adobe Signs Joint Marketing Agreement with SAIC Message-ID: <20061208071730.H2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 December 2006 ; Design News Adobe Signs Joint Marketing Agreement with SAIC http://www.designtaxi.com/news.jsp?id=3780 --- Companies Collaborate on Solutions to Extend Processes and Provide Richer and More Productive User Experiences Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it has signed a joint marketing agreement with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Under this agreement, the companies plan to pursue new business opportunities and add value to existing customer implementations with development, training, and distribution of solutions for transforming and extending processes across government and industry. SAIC plans to provide systems integration and consulting services for Adobe(r) LiveCycle(r) J2EE-based enterprise software for automating and streamlining business processes; Macromedia(r) Breeze(r) software for Web conferencing communications and collaboration; Adobe Flex(tm). application development solution for delivering rich Internet applications; and the Adobe Acrobat(r) family for creating, controlling, and delivering more secure, high-quality Adobe PDF documents. The joint solutions can provide government agencies and private industry with a richer, more productive user experience. "Agencies around the world are improving program delivery by putting their customers first," said Eugene Lee, vice president of vertical and solutions marketing at Adobe. "As a result of Adobe's collaboration with SAIC, 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." "SAIC has successfully delivered solutions to our customers that are helping them be more efficient, and at the same time, assisting in the improvement of service delivery. As a result, our customers have better and more timely information that enables them to make more intelligent decisions," said Larry Cox, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Intelligence and Information Solutions Business Unit. "This agreement will enable SAIC business developers, program managers, and division managers to develop new business opportunities and add value for existing customers through the development, training, and distribution of rich internet applications and electronic document services." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 8 19:56:57 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 14:56:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Future Combat Systems Program Selects Logistics Data Management Service Provider Message-ID: <20061208145630.A2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) Future Combat Systems Program Selects Logistics Data Management Service Provider http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061208/nyf053.html?.v=80 --- ST. LOUIS, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) and partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (NYSE: SAI), acting as the Lead Systems Integrator for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, today announced the selection of IBM Corporation's Global Business Systems division of Bethesda, Md., as the provider of Logistics Data Management Service (LDMS) for FCS. LDMS is the FCS sustainment and supportability data management service that will be tightly integrated with the Army's Logistics Enterprise. "LDMS will provide a network-enabled, performance-based logistics solution for the U.S. Army that will reduce the logistics footprint, increase operational availability and significantly lower life-cycle costs for FCS Brigade Combat Teams," said Dennis Muilenburg, vice president-general manager of Boeing Combat Systems and FCS program manager. "IBM has demonstrated that it is uniquely qualified to provide these capabilities for our nation's soldiers and will be a tremendous addition to the FCS best-of-industry One Team." The LDMS will provide unprecedented access to complete life-cycle data for FCS logistics support, as well as configuration management, data analysis, and forecasting and planning. It will enable the collection, reporting and collaboration of logistics data on customer demands received from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Standard Army Management Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. LDMS also will provide the status and location of national-level assets of FCS spares and repair parts from DoD, Army and partner systems. IBM Corporation was selected as the LDMS provider based on technical merit, schedule integration, cost, management approach and past performance after a best-value evaluation process by the Lead Systems Integrator team and its government partners. The potential value of the LDMS Systems Development and Demonstration contract, which will be finalized this month and will run through 2014, is in excess of $65 million. Fielding is scheduled to begin in 2010. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 8 19:57:48 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 14:57:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins $423M Naval Warfare Systems contract Message-ID: <20061208145740.Q2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 December 2006 ; Washington Business Journal SAIC wins $423M Naval Warfare Systems contract http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/12/04/daily49.html --- SAIC has won a contract worth more than $400 million to provide services to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, S.C. The company, which is based in San Diego and has thousands of workers locally, will perform the work in the Washington area as well as in Charleston and Tidewater, Va. The contract, from J63 Enterprise Command and Control Advanced Technology Services, has a one-year base term, two one-year options and four one-year award options for an overall value of $423 million if all options are exercised. Under this program, SAIC and its teammates will provide engineering and operational support to various branches of the military as well as federal agencies. SAIC (NYSE: SAI) employs about 43,000 people in more than 150 cities worldwide. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Dec 10 15:16:40 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:16:40 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC is moving some of its brass east Message-ID: <20061210101455.G2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 10 December 2006 ; San Diego Union-Tribune SAIC is moving some of its brass east http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061210-9999-1b10saic.html --- S.D. firm has more workers in Virginia By Bruce V. Bigelow UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER For some employees at SAIC's corporate headquarters in San Diego, recent weeks have been filled with anxiety over something that begins with a seemingly innocent telephone call. "I received a phone call that was an invitation to manage my staff from our offices in McLean," said one mid-level employee, referring to SAIC's facilities near Tyson's Corner, Va. "After some discussion, it was clear that it was more than an invitation. It was an announcement that my position was going there -- with or without me." The manager, who left SAIC to stay in San Diego, would not speak for attribution because a confidentiality clause in the separation agreement prohibits it. Similar "invitations" throughout SAIC's San Diego operations this year have sparked concerns that the defense contractor is slowly moving more of its leadership to suburban Virginia. The company, also known as Science Applications International Corp., has declined to address the hallway chatter. "We do not speculate about future organizational issues," spokesman Tom Hampton replied in an e-mail recently. SAIC was founded in San Diego in 1969 and currently employs close to 5,000 people here. But the homegrown company, which specializes in complex engineering and technology programs for U.S. military and intelligence agencies, has more than 16,000 employees at its campus in McLean. "SAIC has been talking about 'the move east' for more than six years," said Tom Dillon, a retired SAIC executive in San Diego. He suggested the company may be moving only part of its corporate functions to McLean. Under this scenario, administrative operations such as human resources, program management, corporate marketing, business development and even information technology would move east. But San Diego would retain key corporate functions, such as the chairman and chief executive, chief financial officer, strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. Others are skeptical that the chief executive's post would remain in San Diego once Ken Dahlberg, who has headed the company since 2003, gives up his CEO duties. Dahlberg has told Wall Street analysts he has no plans to retire anytime soon, but some employees believe he intends to give up his CEO role in 2008 -- although he would remain chairman. In the meantime, some employees point to key positions that have been filled in Virginia rather than at the company's San Diego headquarters. One is M. Stuart Davis, who was hired in January as senior vice president for investor relations. As the company's chief liaison with Wall Street, Davis reports from his office in McLean to the chief financial officer at SAIC's headquarters. Another is Paul W. Sullivan, a former executive with San Diego's Titan Corp., who was hired by SAIC in February as senior vice president for business development -- in McLean. About a year ago, SAIC consolidated its corporate communications operations under Arnold L. Punaro, a former Marine Corps major general who has gathered government affairs and other operations under his command in McLean. The move led to the departure of Ben Haddad, a San Diego corporate spokesman, who still provides government relations services for SAIC under a consulting contract with the company. Some San Diego employees also point to a provision in the Nov. 16, 2005, employment agreement letter for the chief financial officer, Mark Sopp, which reads: "In the event that SAIC requires you to relocate to the East Coast, the Company will cover the cost of relocating you and your family." SAIC's eastward migration is logical to Wall Street analysts such as Peter Arment of JSA Research in Newport, R.I., who began covering SAIC after the company's initial public stock offering in October. It only makes sense for a company that derives more than 90 percent of its business from the federal government to locate most of its operations close to Washington, D.C., Arment said in November. It also makes sense to R.J. "Bob" Watkins, who heads a San Diego-based search firm that recruits top executives for companies like SAIC. "When they went public, that was a sea change for the organization that Bob Beyster built," said Watkins, referring to the employee-ownership culture that SAIC founder J. Robert Beyster cultivated during his reign. That corporate culture was reshaped after Ken Dahlberg took over as chief executive three years ago, and many of SAIC's longtime executives retired. "Now you really have a whole different level of stakeholders," Watkins said. "When you have that level of responsibility as a public company, you really have to ask, 'Where am I going to be best-served, given our customer base?' " The answer is obviously Washington, Watkins said. Among other things, the company has more than 9,000 active government contracts and counts the Army, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Administration among its biggest customers. About 23,000 of SAIC's 43,000 employees have security clearances to work on classified government programs. Even if SAIC moved its headquarters to McLean, "it would not be significant other than (lost) bragging rights for the city of San Diego," said Jon Kutler of Admiralty Partners, a Los Angeles investment bank. "It really means that you either live in a wonderful place and spend a great deal of time on planes, or have a few key people move east." Just the same, the loss of corporate headquarters for a Fortune 500 company means more than lost bragging rights to Julie Meier Wright, who heads the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. "I keep that at the top of my list of concerns," she said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 11 12:22:09 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 07:22:09 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Top 10 Best Internet Acquisitions Ever Message-ID: <20061211072157.U2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 December 2006 ; Bellwether (Blog) Top 10 Best Internet Acquisitions Ever http://bell-wether.blogspot.com/2006/12/top-10-best-internet-acquisitions-ever.html --- Well, the list of the Top Ten Worst Internet Acquisitions Ever certainly generated a lot of buzz. There's bound to be disagreements on what constitutes a horrible or a great acquisition, but the point of such lists is to get people in the industry to stop and think for a moment before hurtling headlong into the next bungle. My thoroughly subjective list of the top 10 internet acquisitions took much longer to compile than the worst 10, and maybe that says something about the quality of buyouts over the last 10 years. Some folks have beaten me to the punch with their own top 10 acquisition lists, so here's my take: 10. Shopzilla - acquired by Scripps in June 2005 for $525 million. This is a rare example of a traditional media company buying an Internet service that actually makes both entities better. Shopzilla is a comparison pricing engine and Scripps has been able to plug in their existing advertiser base, making the Shopzilla service not only better but more profitable. In the year and a half since the acquisition Scripps was able to double Shopzilla's revenues and more than triple profits. 9. Network Solutions - acquired by SAIC in 1995 for $4.5 million. This isn't an acquisition that created a great strategic fit or allowed the acquiring company to change its position in the market. This is an acquisition that just plain made money. After SAIC acquired Network Solutions, the domain name registrar, for a paltry sum in 1995, the company was later sold to VeriSign in 2000 for - wait for it - yes, $21 billion. I'm not going to even try to calculate a rate of return for that one. 8. YouTube - acquired by Google earlier this year for $1.65 billion. Heard about this one? :-) I realize this is a brand new acquisition and I'm also aware that this might be considered one of the 10 worst by some people, but here's why it makes number eight on my list: video advertising. The next phase in Internet advertising will undoubtedly be video-based and many think this market will be several times larger than the text-based ads that are Google's current bread and butter. Google Video was not a market leader - YouTube is. If this acquisition gets Google even a little closer to dominating the video ad market as it has the text ad market, it will pay for itself many times over. 7. ZiffDavis - acquired by CNET for $1.6 billion in 2000. ZiffDavis was the parent company of ZDNet, at the time CNET's fiercest competitor. Since the acquisition ZDNet has been (in my view necessarily) severely downsized and repositioned - so why is this in the top 10? Because with one move CNET was able to eliminate its closest competitor, cementing its position as the top place to turn for tech-related information. While CNET may have issues that it's grappling with now, imagine the position it would be in if Yahoo! had bought ZDNet back in 2000. 6. Overture - acquired by Yahoo! in July 2003 for $1.63 billion. Yahoo! was smart enough to realize quickly the implications of Google's acquisition of Applied Semantics (see below). At the time of the acquisition Overture accounted for 20% of Yahoo!'s revenues and I would imagine that share has gone way up over the last 3 years. Even though Yahoo! currently is developing its Panama system to replace the Overture technology, this acquisition allowed Yahoo! managed to stay in the search game, at least until now. 5. Advertising.com - acquired by AOL in June 2004 for $435 million. AOL wisely decided that having a closed network and being in the Internet access business was not the right direction to go. The acquisition of Advertising.com, an interactive ad firm, became a centerpiece for AOL's focus on generating advertising revenue to replace the connection fees it had traditionally relied upon. The very strong quarter that AOL last announced indicates this was exactly the right move to make. 4. Four11 - Acquired by Yahoo! for $92 million in 1997. Four11's Rocketmail service became Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! was one of the first portals to offer a free email service. Unlike Microsoft's acquisition of Hotmail later that year, Yahoo! did a great job of integrating the email service with the rest of its offerings. Over the last 10 years, web-based email has been one of the absolute most sticky applications that Yahoo! has. For less than $100 million Yahoo! was able to leapfrog its portal-wannabe competitors and create a service that millions of its users still rely upon to this day. 3. Applied Semantics - acquired by Google in April 2003. Applied Semantics originally developed the AdSense technology that delivers text advertisements to web pages based on keyword relevance to the page. This has become the cornerstone for Google's dominance and is responsible for generating billions upon billions in profits for the company. Before this acquisition Google was a great search engine. After this acquisition Google became a great search engine that mints money. 2. PayPal - acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. This was an obvious acquisition for eBay, but one that nonetheless has helped fueled its growth. After trying to compete with PayPal by offering its own payment transaction system, eBay smartly realized that it was too late - PayPal had already become the default payment system for the vast majority of eBay auctions. Rather than sticking to its guns and trying to outlast PayPal, eBay listened to its users. PayPal is now integrated into every aspect of eBay and accounts for a huge amount of its revenues. 1. mySpace - acquired by News Corp. in July 2005 for $580 million. While mySpace may some day be remembered as nothing more than an annoying assortment of ugly web pages, the News Corporation's acquisition of Intermix, mySpace's corporate parent, immediately vaulted the company to a leading position on the Internet. Contrary to many predictions, mySpace has continued to grow like crazy since the acquisition and the News Corp. has wisely left it largely alone. MySpace gives the News Corp. an enormous platform to distribute music, videos, and anything else it can think of to an audience of millions of young people. It's not surprising that a year after the acquisition, New Corp. now claims that mySpace is worth more than 10 times what it originally paid for the company. Like any list there were some close calls that didn't quite make it (such as AOL acquiring Mirabilis) and perhaps others that didn't even occur to me. But lists like this one are meant to generate discussion, not to serve as an official accounting. So go ahead, tell me what I missed or what you agree with. --- [1] http://bell-wether.blogspot.com/2006/11/top-10-worst-internet-acquisitions.html [2] http://www.watchmojo.com/web/blog/?p=919 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 11 21:50:36 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:50:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Enters Into Master Marketing Agreement With Zebra Imaging Message-ID: <20061211165027.U2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 December 2006 ; PRNewswire SAIC Enters Into Master Marketing Agreement With Zebra Imaging http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-11-2006/0004488657 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today that it has entered into a master marketing agreement with Zebra Imaging to advance three-dimensional (3D) holographic imaging for defense, intelligence and related opportunities. Zebra Imaging, headquartered in Austin, Texas, develops display technologies and products for 3D visual communications. Components of the strategic relationship include a corporate venture capital investment through SAIC Venture Capital Corporation and a master marketing agreement with the SAIC Intelligence and Security Group's Operational Intelligence Solutions Business Unit in McLean, Va. "SAIC and Zebra have strong customer base and product line synergies that underscore the potential benefits of the strategic relationship for both companies," said Albert Wargo, Zebra Imaging chairman and chief executive officer. "With SAIC's collaboration, we expect to grow our capability to provide unique, useful 3D visualization displays and tools to better serve our mutual customers in defense and federal markets." Zebra Imaging provides holograms and displays, including large scale, autostereoscopic, full-parallax (omni-directional 3D viewing), full-color displays for 3D digital imagery. It also offers 3D imaging systems design, development and engineering services to government and commercial clients in defense and intelligence, industrial design, and petroleum exploration. "Zebra Imaging is widely recognized for its leading-edge expertise in digital holographic recording technology," said Lawrence Prior, president of SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group. "Through this strategic relationship, SAIC will have a direct link with some of our nation's foremost 3D experts. Through this direct link, SAIC plans to further advance and apply this exciting technology to missions of national and global importance." SAIC Venture Capital Corporation (VCC), a wholly owned SAIC subsidiary, oversees SAIC's corporate venture capital program. VCC holds equity investment interests in emerging technology companies that are strategic to SAIC. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 11 21:53:11 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:53:11 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] No More Smoke And Mirrors Message-ID: <20061211165254.C2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 December 2006 ; Computerworld No More Smoke And Mirrors http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=271700 --- BY Julia King Information technology isn't the only thing that's changing. Customers and internal users of computers are also evolving, says Bob Logan, vice president of enterprise infrastructure services at Science Applications International Corp. This is prompting IT to service users in new ways. "Before, our user base was quite distant. IT really was smoke and mirrors to them," he says. Today, in contrast, "users are IT savvy. There's a higher demand for targeted and quality services. There's a pull for services, rather than IT pushing services out for users to accept. There's a tremendous demand model," he notes. To meet this demand, Logan and his team have developed a catalog of IT services using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, known as ITIL. "It's a way of aligning our IT services to what the organization really needs," he says. So far, the catalog includes 43 services that are categorized into six areas. The area of communications, for example, includes telephones, BlackBerry devices and pagers. The hosting services area includes all back-office technology, such as Unix and Linux servers and applications. "What's exciting about this framework is that it gets the whole IT organization thinking about how what they are doing is affecting a service at a customer's laptop. Using this kind of common language provides a natural alignment," Logan says. Organizing and categorizing IT services into a structured framework that aligns with users' needs also results in more focused, business-oriented IT innovation, Logan says. "Now we look at innovation not for the sake of IT innovation, but more along the lines of innovation that's focused on a clear business objective," he says. "IT no longer is coming up with solutions looking for problems. We're now innovating in the glide path because you can pull a string from the business need to the IT service." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 11 21:57:28 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:57:28 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Foolish Forecast: SAIC Sails Forth Message-ID: <20061211165720.N2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 December 2006 ; The Motley Fool Foolish Forecast: SAIC Sails Forth http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2006/mft06121131.htm --- By Rich Smith Defense contractor SAIC (NYSE: SAI) reports its first earnings as a public company Tuesday afternoon. Want to know what Wall Street expects to see? Read on. Want to know what really matters? Read on a bit more. What analysts say: * Buy, sell or waffle? How many analysts follow SAIC? Fourteen. A better question is "why?" All of them have hold ratings on the stock. Way to play vanilla, guys. * Revenues. On average, they're looking for $2.11 billion in revenue. * Earnings. Profits are predicted to come in at $0.23 per share. What management says: SAIC management hasn't said much of interest (at least, not that it's filed with the SEC) since IPO-ing back in October. Whilst waiting to hear something of import from the execs, therefore, you might entertain yourself with some thoughts from my Foolish colleague Tom Taulli, who argues that SAIC is a company built to last. [1] What management does: SAIC's margin trends suggest recent improvements at this 37-year-old business. Rolling gross margins have risen in each of the last two quarters. More impressive considering the added costs attendant upon an IPO, the rolling operating margins are rising as well. As for the steep drop in the net, pay it no mind. SAIC recorded $530 million in profits from discontinued operations in the April 2005 quarter, which inflated its rolling net in that and the subsequent three quarters. Since then, they've stabilized at just less than 6%. One Fool says: Lacking much of a publicly reported history to work from, I'm going to refrain from trying to express any deep thoughts on SAIC for the time being. But my initial impression of the company is that, even though it's pricier now than it was on IPO day, the stock looks attractive today. It sports a trailing P/E ratio lower than many of its peers. Its revenues, while not growing rapidly, are at least growing (up about 5.6% year over year during the last six-month period). Meanwhile, cost of services provided and selling, general, and administrative costs are all being kept below 5% year over year. The longer SAIC can keep that up, the more its margins -- already twice the industry average -- will expand, allowing profits to grow faster than the relatively tame sales growth might suggest. Speaking of which, given that SAIC was likely spending significant sums on legal and accounting due diligence while preparing for its IPO over the last six months, I suspect that a reduction in operating costs in future quarters is likely -- and improvement in profit margins as well. Competitors: * Accenture (NYSE: ACN) * BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) * CACI (NYSE: CAI) * IBM (NYSE: IBM) * Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) * Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares of any company named above. The Fool has a disclosure policy. --- [1] http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2006/mft06101603.htm [2] http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Dec 12 12:04:27 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 07:04:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Army cuts $3 billion from Boeing program Message-ID: <20061212070421.P2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 December 2006 ; St. Louis Post-Dispatch Army cuts $3 billion from Boeing program http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/6C81139AEDF49E6D862572420010492B?OpenDocument --- The Boeing Co.-Science Applications International Corp. program to build a new family of computer-networked armored vehicles and drones would be cut about $3.3 billion, or just over 10 percent, in the Army's proposed fiscal 2008-2013 budget, according to service documents. The Future Combat Systems program jointly managed by Boeing and San Diego-based SAIC, is the Army's largest weapons program and the Pentagon's second-most-costly, behind the $276 billion Joint Strike Fighter. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 13 03:09:30 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:09:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] BAE SYSTEMS Teams with SAIC to Improve Geospatial and Human Intelligence Message-ID: <20061212220923.G2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 December 2006 ; Business Wire BAE SYSTEMS Teams with SAIC to Improve Geospatial and Human Intelligence http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061212005594&newsLang=en --- WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems has been named principal teammate to Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE:SAI) on a contract to develop an enhanced intelligence capability to provide U.S. Army troops and air crews faster access to geospatial and human intelligence information. BAE Systems joins prime contractor SAIC on the Geospatial Research, Integration, Development and Support (GRIDS) contract recently awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers' Topographic Engineering Center. GRIDS is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a total ceiling value of $250 million that will combine geospatial intelligence with information collected by tactical ground and air forces to improve the quality and availability of information. "Access to intelligence from multiple sources will dramatically increase the speed of command by collapsing the decision cycle," said John Osterholz, BAE Systems vice president and general manager for Integrated C4ISR systems in Reston, Va. "GRIDS will enable analysts to rapidly collect, analyze, and manage information from multiple sources to significantly enhance warfighter combat situational awareness." Under the GRIDS contract, BAE Systems will perform engineering tasks across a range of activities that include geospatial and human intelligence research and development, precision electro-optics sensors development, concept demonstration, experimentation, systems engineering, integration, and operations support. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 13 03:12:07 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:12:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Entergy, SAIC to Open Data Center in Former Library Building Message-ID: <20061212220932.Y2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 December 2006 ; Arkansas Business Entergy, SAIC to Open Data Center in Former Library Building http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=96434.80922.108576 --- Entergy Corp. of New Orleans and Science Applications International Corp. announced Tuesday that Entergy will buy the 76,000-SF former home of the Little Rock Municipal Library and convert it to a data center for SAIC employees. Image [1], Caption: Rex Ballard (left), vice president of SAIC, speaks at a news conference announcing a new data center at the former location of the Little Rock Municipal Library. Entergy Little Rock CEO Hugh McDonald and Gov. Mike Huckabee (far right) look on. The building, at 7th and Louisiana streets, will serve as one of two primary data centers for the four-state Entergy system. About 20 employees, mostly for SAIC, will work there. Renovating and purchasing the building will cost Entergy about $41 million. Renovations will begin this month, with operations to begin by the third quarter of 2007. Entergy and SAIC said the new center will result in about 100 new professional jobs for Little Rock. Annual payroll for the jobs will be about $8 million. The average yearly salary will be about $80,000, according to Mike Cawthon, vice president and IT operations manager for SAIC's Entergy program. About 20 employees will work at the new center. Support staff will work at other Little Rock locations, including the Metropolitan Bank Tower, where SAIC already has offices on two floors. In all, the two companies expect to have between 140 and 150 employees working on data functions in Little Rock by next summer. The center will manage servers that support all aspects of the utility company's operations, including accounting, finance and customer service, Cawthon said. Expanding Jobs will include engineers and IT professionals, as well as entry level positions. Cawthon said SAIC has been in talks with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and other local schools to make some positions available to graduating students -- part of an effort to retain high-tech workers for central Arkansas. In addition to supporting its work for Entergy, Cawthon said SAIC might eventually be able to work with other central Arkansas clients at the data center. "We will look to do that in the future," he said. "We are staffing here to support a specific obligation or a specific mission with Entergy. But we are in a commercial business, and we are definitely interested in expanding our role here and expanding these operations." State of the Art The new center is part of Entergy's post-hurricane planning. Before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Entergy had relied on a data center in Gretna, La., which was damaged during the hurricanes. Entergy has now reconfigured its corporate business functions, which now include several primary offices throughout Entergy's service territory. "This is going to be a state-of-the-art facility," Wayne Alphonso, Entergy's director on the project, said. "The reliability of the whole Entergy operation depends heavily on the reliability of its data centers, so it's very important that this is done right." Entergy Corp. delivers electricity to 2.7 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. SAIC, a technical services provider that works closely with Entergy, is a Fortune 500 company with 43,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue of about $8 billion. It operates in several areas, including defense transformation efforts, homeland security, logistics and health and life sciences. Hugh McDonald, president of Entergy Arkansas, said Entergy outsourced its information technology function to SAIC eight years ago. Rex Ballard, SAIC's vice president, said the firm prefers to fly under the radar. "We tend to work behind the scenes, and in fact much of the work we do for the federal government is classified," he said. "We may be a quiet company, but I can assure you, we are the largest most sophisticated technology company you never heard of." --- [1] http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/images/photos/saic.jpg From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 13 03:13:27 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:13:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC profit jumps 8 percent on higher revenues Message-ID: <20061212221317.F2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 December 2006 ; San Jose Mercury News SAIC profit jumps 8 percent on higher revenues http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/16224068.htm --- SAN DIEGO - SAIC Inc., posting quarterly financial results for the first time since it sold shares to the public, said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit grew 8 percent. The defense contractor earned $98 million, or 28 cents a share, in the three-month period ended Oct. 31, up from $91 million, or 25 cents a share, the same period last year. The latest period included a charge of $8 million for stock-based compensation. Last year's figure included a loss of $61 million on a troubled contract with the Greek government. Revenue rose 5.8 percent to $2.14 billion, up from $2.02 billion last year, an increase fueled by a string of acquisitions. The San Diego-based company's contract signings - a key indicator of future revenue - totaled $2.1 billion during the quarter, including $1.6 billion from the intelligence, defense and homeland security industries. SAIC's initial public offering in October marked a seismic cultural shift for the secretive contractor, which has been profitable each of its 37 years and performs some of the U.S. government's most sensitive security work. Robert Beyster, the company founder who retired in 2004, insisted on employee ownership. Shares of SAIC rose 76 cents, or 4 percent, to $19.72 on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, before the results were released. The shares were down 47 cents in after-hours trading. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 13 03:17:11 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:17:11 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Announces Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2007 Message-ID: <20061212221658.X2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 December 2006 ; SAIC SAIC Announces Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2007 http://www.saic.com/news/2006/dec/12.html --- * Revenues: Up 6 percent to $2.1 billion * Operating Income: Up 36 percent to $144 million * Diluted EPS from Continuing Operations: Up 30 percent to $0.26 * Stock repurchase program authorized (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - SAIC, Inc. [NYSE: SAI], a leading provider of research, engineering, and technology services and solutions, today announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2007, which ended October 31, 2006. View our Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2007 Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows (19k, PDF file*). [1] Revenues were $2.1 billion, up 6 percent from $2.0 billion in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. Approximately 3 percentage points of the consolidated growth was internal, or non-acquisition, growth. Operating income was $144 million (6.7 percent of revenue), up 36 percent from $106 million (5.2 percent of revenue) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. The operating income for the quarter reflects $8 million in stock-based compensation expenses related to stock options and the employee stock purchase program, which were not included in the year-ago quarter in accordance with our adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) No. 123(R) this fiscal year. The operating income for the third quarter of fiscal year 2006 reflects $61 million in contract losses associated with the company's firm-fixed-price contract with the Greek government. Income from continuing operations was $90 million, up 27 percent from $71 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. The tax rate on continuing operations was 42 percent, up from 36 percent in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. The higher tax rate in the third quarter of fiscal 2007 was due to the non-deductibility of certain amounts of the special dividend paid in conjunction with the company's initial public offering (IPO) that were treated as compensation. In addition, the tax rate for the third quarter in the prior year was lower than a normative tax rate due to the reversal of certain tax contingency accruals. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.26, up 30 percent from $0.20 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. Diluted share count was 347 million, down from 358 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006 due to share repurchases made during the last 12 months, offset slightly by new shares issued in the IPO. During the quarter the company sold its majority owned subsidiary ANX and recorded a preliminary after-tax gain of $7 million. ANX has been reflected as a discontinued operation. Income from discontinued operations was $8 million, down 60 percent from $20 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006 due to the reversal of a tax contingency accrual associated with Telcordia, which was sold in March 2005. Net income was $98 million, up 8 percent from $91 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. Diluted earnings per share, which include discontinued operations, were $0.28, up 12 percent from $0.25 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006. Total cash flows provided by continuing operating activities increased 55 percent from $137 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2006 to $212 million. "We are pleased to have successfully completed our initial public offering and to report another solid quarter, especially in cash flow generation," said Ken Dahlberg, SAIC chairman and chief executive officer. "Looking forward, we see a healthy funding environment for our work supporting important national and global missions, and our focus on collaboration to pursue larger opportunities is starting to bear fruit. The success of our initial public offering was a tribute to the hard work and innovation of our 43,000 employees, and our entire company is committed to executing the strategy that we laid out to our new shareholders on our IPO road show--accelerating organic growth, expanding operating margins and making strategic acquisitions." Stock Repurchase Program In addition, SAIC today announced that its board of directors has authorized a stock repurchase program under which the company may repurchase up to 40 million shares of the company's common stock. Stock repurchases under this program may be made on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions with third parties. Whether any repurchases are made and the timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors including price, corporate and regulatory requirements and other market conditions. Mark Sopp, SAIC chief financial officer commented, "The stock repurchase program is part of our overall strategy for capital allocation to maximize shareholder value. The board's action is a reflection of the company's strong financial position and its confidence in the company's future performance." New Business Awards During the third quarter, SAIC new business bookings totaled $2.1 billion, assuming all contract options are exercised. Current quarter bookings is defined as ending quarterly backlog less beginning quarterly backlog plus current quarter revenues. Notable highlights of competitive contract awards during the quarter include: * U.S. Air Force 330th Aircraft Sustainment Wing, Robins Air Force Base. Under a four-year, $45 million firm-fixed-price contract, SAIC will deliver services for the Wing's aircraft, including center wing replacement, depot inspection and repair, aircraft modification, and logistics support, enabling them to deliver the five C-130E aircraft to Poland's Air Force. * Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Office of Information Technology. SAIC will provide lifecycle information technology support services to HRSA undera five-year, time and materials contract with a maximum value of $34 million. This contract award represents a follow-on effort for a relationship that began in 1998. Primary services include Web and database application development for HRSA grant program systems, grant policy analysis, statistical analysis and reporting, continued development of the Geospatial Data Warehouse, call center support, and network services. * Geospatial Research, Integration, Development and Support (GRIDS) Contract. SAIC will provide engineering services and geospatial support to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center--Topographic Engineering Center under a five-year, single award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (IDIQ) with a maximum value of $250 million. SAIC will develop, demonstrate, and deploy innovative products that integrate geospatial information into actionable intelligence by using high resolution information to better define threats and high value targets. * Cargo Advanced Automated Radiography System (CAARS). SAIC will deliver a prototype high-energy radiation radiographic inspection system to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Domestic Detection Office (DNDO). Primary services include design, development, fabrication, assembly, testing, and delivery of a prototype CAARS unit that will automatically detect radiological and nuclear materials, such as highly enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, and eliminate the need for operator interpretation of radiographic images. If the two-year development phase is successful, a substantial task order could follow, potentially increasing the total contract value up to $450 million. In connection with the company's review of backlog at the end of the quarter, previously reported negotiated unfunded backlog was adjusted downward by $1.6 billion to (i) eliminate anticipated revenue from future task orders under certain IDIQ contract vehicles that were included in backlog (the company's definition of backlog excludes estimates of future potential task orders under IDIQ contract vehicles) and (ii) exclude amounts that the company estimates it will not receive during the term of particular unfunded contracts. After the adjustment the company's backlog of signed business orders at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2007 was $14.4 billion, of which $4.0 billion was funded. Acquisitions During the third quarter SAIC completed three acquisitions for a total cost of $114 million. The acquisitions include: * Applied Ordnance Technology (AOT),a leading innovator in the defense community for technical products and services in the areas of ordnance and weapons systems engineering and design, acquisition and logistics, systems safety, environmental engineering, IT solutions and knowledge-based applications. The company brings more than 165 employees providing technical expertise to the military and other federal government agencies. * Varec, Inc.,a market leader in measurement, control and automation systems, supplying integrated hardware and software to oil and gas, defense, and aviation markets. Varec brings more than 125 people who strengthen SAIC's position in the fuels industry and allows the company to provide a more comprehensive array of services to its customers. * bd Systems Inc.,a leading provider of aerospace engineering and information technology (IT) services. The company's 330 people support government and commercial clients in more than 20 locations throughout the U.S. and offer core capabilities in systems engineering, enterprise network management, aerospace engineering, logistics and sustainment support, geographical information systems and acquisition support. In addition, after the close of the quarter, SAIC completed the acquisitionof AETC Inc., which specializes in remote sensing systems and services for the Department of Defense. SAIC also announced its agreement to acquire Applied Marine Technology, Inc. (AMTI), which provides a broad range of services, products and expertise to the special warfare, military, law enforcement, and intelligence communities. Forward Guidance The company is issuing guidance for fiscal years 2007 and 2008. The table below represents management's current expectations about the company's future financial performance based on information available at this time. The forward guidance in the table below includes the expected contribution of the proposed AMTI acquisition, which is expected to close this month, and all completed acquisitions, but it does not include any effect for any other acquisitions that SAIC might make in the future. In addition, the forward guidance does not include any share repurchases that might be made under the newly authorized stock repurchase program. If repurchases are made under the program, they would have the effect of lowering diluted share equivalents and increasing diluted earnings per share. [Table of figures] The projected increase in the diluted share equivalents and the resulting decrease in diluted earnings per share in fiscal year 2008 are caused primarily by the additional 86.25 million shares issued in the company's initial public offering, which closed on October 17, 2006. The projected decrease in cash flow from operations results primarily from proposed changes to equity programs to reduce share dilution and accounting changes from SFAS No. 123(R), which reclassifies certain amounts previously reported in cash flow from operations to cash flows from financing activities. --- [1] http://www.saic.com/news/pdf/2007Q3pandl.pdf From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Dec 14 21:18:48 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:18:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC "hold," estimates reduced Message-ID: <20061214161842.J2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 December 2006 ; Newratings.com SAIC "hold," estimates reduced http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_1442115.html --- NEW YORK -- Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus & Company maintain their "hold" rating on SAIC Inc (ticker: SAI), while reducing their estimates for the company. In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company has reported its F3Q07 EPS and revenues ahead of the estimates and the consensus. SAIC has reduced its backlogs by $1.6 billion to $14.4 billion to exclude anticipated business from IDIQ contracts that had been mis-categorized in the earlier information system, the analysts add. The EPS estimate for FY07 has been reduced from $0.98 to $0.97. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Dec 14 21:24:15 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:24:15 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC shares dip on financial report as public company Message-ID: <20061214162404.H2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 December 2006 ; San Diego Union-Tribune SAIC shares dip on financial report as public company http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061214-9999-1b14saic.html --- By Bruce V. Bigelow As an employee-owned conglomerate that was tightly controlled for most of its 37-year history, San Diego's SAIC was more or less immune to what happened yesterday after it posted its first financial results as a public company. Science Applications International Corp. shares fell $1.48, or 7.5 percent, as Wall Street absorbed the company's first financial guidance as a public company, which included a profit forecast that might have disappointed some investors. The stock closed at $18.24 yesterday in trading of 5.5 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, more than twice the company's recent average daily volume. SAIC sold more than 86.25 million shares in its initial public offering Oct. 12, marking a shift in its corporate culture as an employee-owned company. Since then, SAIC's stock has traded in a relatively narrow range between $19 and $20 a share. In another sign of Wall Street's feeling about the company, all of the 15 analysts who initiated coverage of SAIC rated the stock as a "hold" or "market perform," according to Bloomberg. In a research note issued yesterday, Wachovia analyst Edward S. Caso wrote that SAID remained "the premier 'pure play' service provider in the government IT services space. Our rating reflects current valuation, and meaningful 'share overhang' in the next 12 months." The share overhang represents one of the biggest uncertainties for investors, as restrictions on employee stock sales mandated by federal securities law expire over the next year. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 also ensures that employee shareholders will be able to sell the SAIC shares held in their 401(k) retirement plans. Heavy selling by SAIC's employee shareholders could depress the share price. In financial results issued after the market closed Tuesday, SAIC for the first time provided management's expectations about the company's financial performance through January 2008. Wachovia's Caso noted that SAIC's outlook for the fiscal 2007 fourth quarter that ends Jan. 31 was a touch below expectations. The company said its profit from continuing operations for the year ended Jan. 31 would be 96 cents to 98 cents a share, which equates to 14 cents to 16 cents in the fourth quarter. Analysts had estimated SAIC's fourth-quarter earnings per share would be closer to 18 cents a share. SAIC's guidance prompted Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst William Loomis to lower his fourth-quarter earnings estimate to 16 cents a share from 18 cents. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Dec 14 21:27:33 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:27:33 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] No More Secrets at SAIC Message-ID: <20061214162726.K2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 14 December 2006 ; The Motley Fool No More Secrets at SAIC http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2006/mft06121401.htm --- By Ryan Fuhrmann, CFA SAIC (NYSE: SAI) is one of the largest service and solutions providers to U.S. military and related government agencies. After nearly 40 years as a privately held entity, it issued shares to the public in October. [1] So why would a firm that makes a living off of secret intelligence want to enter the public realm, and does that spell opportunity for investors? It's hard to tell at this point in time. SAIC *just* went public, so it's difficult to discern its per share cash flow generating capabilities. For starters, based off of management guidance for fiscal 2007 and expectations for 365 million shares outstanding, the stock is trading at about 19 times earnings. But due to the public offering, share count for 2008 is projected to jump to 430 million, accounting for the per share drop in earnings and a forward P/E of almost 22. Another thing to consider is that employees who received shares in the public offering are currently prohibited from selling their holdings. That will change quickly as some 140 million shares are set to be "unlocked" in January. Wide-scale selling is not expected but certain shareholders will undoubtedly look to cash out. This could put pressure on the stock price. SAIC's motivation for going public was to raise proceeds as employee owners were increasingly selling shares accumulated over the years. SAIC would gladly buy back the shares but the higher volume was quickly depleting company capital. Employees and other owners from the old SAIC will also soon be receiving $2.45 billion in a special dividend. As a result, the $3.6 billion in cash on the balance sheet will fall to $1.2 billion or so after the payment is made. Once the moving parts fall into place from the share offering, SAIC will be worth keeping an eye on. Its business is unique, as the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. military, and other government divisions trust it with solving the technical implications that go with ensuring national security. In fact, certain employees are granted high-level security clearance, so don't expect competitors to steal business frequently, if at all. As a service company, SAIC throws off decent annual cash flow and has low levels of capital expenditures to sustain the business. It's also much larger than government service peers such as CACI (NYSE: CAI), ManTech International (Nasdaq: MANT), and SRA International (NYSE: SRX). Right now, cash is being expended to pay the special dividend, but going forward management intends to use capital by making acquisitions to grow market share. The company hasn't grown that rapidly as of late so it will be interesting to see if a publicly traded currency will help reignite a steady historical acquisition binge. It may already have; for the just-completed third quarter, management made three purchases for $114 million. SAIC has a solid track record of providing sensitive services to defense and military arms of the U.S. government which have experienced a renaissance as homeland security initiatives have moved to the forefront of the national agenda. Investors are hoping that the company continues its secret operating strategies but quickly develops a reputation as a steady, growing performer in the public eyes of Wall Street. --- [1] http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2006/mft06101603.htm From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 18 21:59:26 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 16:59:26 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Completes Acquisition of Applied Marine Technology, Inc. Message-ID: <20061218165920.O2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) SAIC Completes Acquisition of Applied Marine Technology, Inc. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061218/dcm012.html?.v=85 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Applied Marine Technology, Inc. (AMTI). Based in Virginia Beach, Va., AMTI provides a broad range of services, products and expertise to the special warfare community, military, law enforcement, the intelligence community and private industry, including the areas of homeland security and the global war on terrorism. The acquisition integrates AMTI's offerings in training and exercises, systems engineering and integration, information systems and communications, and rapid prototyping of technical solutions with SAIC's technical and operational presence within the nation's intelligence, special warfare and homeland security communities. AMTI joins SAIC's Operational Intelligence Solutions Business Unit, led by Senior Vice President and General Manager John Thomas in McLean, Va. "The solutions we apply to problems of national significance will be enhanced by the combined capabilities we now can bring to bear as a result of the acquisition of AMTI," said Thomas. "We are pleased to have AMTI's employees and leaders join the SAIC team." AMTI employs more than 500 people supporting government and private sector clients in locations across the U.S., including Virginia Beach, Va.; San Diego, Calif.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Ponca City, Okla.; and Washington, D.C. In addition to its core offerings, AMTI designs, develops, and manufactures communications, information technology, personal protection, and explosive ordinance disposal products. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Dec 18 22:00:51 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:00:51 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SiteScape Collaboration Software Adopted By Science Applications International Corporation Message-ID: <20061218170044.A2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 December 2006 ; American Digital Networks SiteScape Collaboration Software Adopted By Science Applications International Corporation http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20061218005186/ --- MAYNARD, Mass.-(Business Wire)- SiteScape(R), the premier provider of secure Web-based workflow and collaboration solutions, today announced that Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has adopted SiteScape's Forum ZX product as part of the standard integrated digital environment that SAIC uses to support its large programs. "The key factors in our choice were the product's security features, coupled with its flexibility in structuring, managing and accessing content, said Richard Chipman, SAIC's VP/Director of SE&I Environments. "These features translate into agility for SAIC." For example, SiteScape provides secure web conferencing and other real-time collaboration features without the need for special firewall adaptations. With these capabilities, SAIC can form teams rapidly and collaborate with ease across organizational and enterprise boundaries. SAIC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services with more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. SiteScape Forum ZX will be used across the company for project management, team collaboration, and real-time web conferences. Forum ZX provides a secure, easy to use, collaboration and business process management platform for SAIC staff and customers worldwide. "In the highly competitive market for collaborative software solutions, it is an honor for SiteScape to have received this contract with such a prestigious company," said SiteScape CEO Brian Hays. "SiteScape is committed to providing SAIC with the best collaborative technology available in the market today." About SiteScape SiteScape, Inc. provides collaborative solutions for workflow, knowledge management, program/project management, document management, teleconferencing, instant messaging, contact management and web conferencing. SiteScape products are web-based, secure, scalable, customizable, easy to use, PKI-enabled and 508-compliant. Organizations such as Shell, the US Navy, Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences use SiteScape products as their preferred collaboration solution. For more information, visit http://www.sitescape.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 20 22:04:38 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:04:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC closes Applied Marine Technology purchase Message-ID: <20061220170432.W2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 20 December 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC closes Applied Marine Technology purchase http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/29881-1.html --- By William Welsh Deputy Editor Science Applications International Corp. has completed its acquisition of Applied Marine Technology Inc., a provider of products and services related to homeland security and the global war on terrorism. Terms were not disclosed when the company announced the purchase last month. The acquisition marries AMTI's capabilities in training and exercises, systems engineering and integration, information systems and communications, and rapid prototyping of technical solutions with SAIC's technical and operational work for the nation's intelligence, special warfare and homeland security communities. In addition to its core offerings, AMTI provides communications, IT, personal protection and explosive ordinance disposal products. AMTI of Virginia Beach, Va., with its 500 employees, is now part of SAIC's Operational Intelligence Solutions business unit in McLean, Va. The unit is headed by Senior Vice President and General Manager John Thomas. SAIC of San Diego has more than 43,000 employees and had annual sales of $7.8 billion in fiscal 2006. The company ranks No. 3 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Dec 20 22:05:29 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:05:29 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC, SYS Get Navy Deal Message-ID: <20061220170523.C2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 20 December 2006 ; Houston Chronicle SAIC, SYS Get Navy Deal http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4416256.html --- SAN DIEGO -- SYS Technologies Inc., a provider of engineering, management and information technology services, received a three-year contract worth up to $1.9 million from the Navy. San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center awarded SYS a base-year contract worth up to $1.9 million with two-year options period, the company said Tuesday. The prime contract awarded to San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. is worth up to $59.5 million. The initial contract value awarded was $34 million with two-year option periods, a spokesman for SAIC said Wednesday. Work on the contract will be completed by November 2009. SYS will provide systems engineering support, test, and evaluation, as well as, fleet engineering support, system operation and verification test under the SPAWAR Defense Solutions Group Submarine Communication Information contract awarded to SAIC. Shares of SYS rose 3 cents to $2.34 in afternoon trading on the American Stock Exchange, while shares of SAIC fell 1 cent to $17.89 on the New York Stock Exchange. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Dec 28 13:31:36 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:31:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded Defense Threat Reduction Agency Contract Message-ID: <20061228083128.K2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 December 2006 ; PRNewswire SAIC Awarded Defense Threat Reduction Agency Contract http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-28-2006/0004497239 --- MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today it won a contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to work on the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset (IWMDT) Phase II. The multiple-award cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a three-year base period with an optional five-year total period of performance. If all options are exercised, it will have a total value of $53.9 million. Through this contract SAIC will move validated DTRA modeling and simulation chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) tools to a Web portal, develop a laptop capability and provide a common CBRNE information systems architecture. This will allow users to rapidly access CBRNE planning, emergency response and assessment capabilities. "SAIC and our team remain 100 percent committed to supporting the DTRA mission and enhancing their capabilities for agile, collaborative planning," said Deborah James, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Technology Business Unit. Under the contract, SAIC will expand upon the work it completed in Phase I as the lead systems integrator. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 29 12:31:23 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:31:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded Defense Threat Reduction Agency Contract Message-ID: <20061229073115.B2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) SAIC Awarded Defense Threat Reduction Agency Contract http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061228/dcth003.html?.v=78 --- MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAI) announced today it won a contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to work on the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset (IWMDT) Phase II. The multiple-award cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a three-year base period with an optional five-year total period of performance. If all options are exercised, it will have a total value of $53.9 million. Through this contract SAIC will move validated DTRA modeling and simulation chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) tools to a Web portal, develop a laptop capability and provide a common CBRNE information systems architecture. This will allow users to rapidly access CBRNE planning, emergency response and assessment capabilities. "SAIC and our team remain 100 percent committed to supporting the DTRA mission and enhancing their capabilities for agile, collaborative planning," said Deborah James, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Technology Business Unit. Under the contract, SAIC will expand upon the work it completed in Phase I as the lead systems integrator. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 29 12:32:33 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:32:33 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC to Create Online Tools for Military Message-ID: <20061229073226.R2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 December 2006 ; Yahoo (PR Newswire) SAIC to Create Online Tools for Military http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061228/saic_contract.html?.v=2 --- SAIC Plans to Develop Online Tools to Assess Mass Destruction Threats for U.S. Military MCLEAN, Va. (AP) -- Science Applications International Corp., suppler of scientific, engineering and technical services to the U.S. military, said Thursday it received a contract worth up to $53.9 million to provide information technology systems related to chemical and biological defense. The contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is for the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset Phase II. The project creates modeling and simulation chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive tools to a Web portal, where users can quickly access planning, emergency response and assessment capabilities. Science Applications was the lead systems integrator on phase I of the program. The latest contract has a three-year base period, but could last as long as five years. SAIC, which went public in October, had revenue of $7.79 billion in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Dec 29 12:35:38 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:35:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC to work on threat assessments for contract Message-ID: <20061229073532.K2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 December 2006 ; The Examiner SAIC to work on threat assessments for contract http://www.examiner.com/a-480078~SAIC_to_work_on_threat_assessments_for_contract.html --- WASHINGTON - Defense contractor SAIC has won a multiyear contract worth up to $54 million from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, company officials announced Thursday. The McLean-based company will work to improve the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset, a program that provides simulation exercises in chemical, biological, radiological, explosive and nuclear warfare. The agency uses the program to assess threats and develop emergency response plans. Under the terms of the contract, SAIC will transfer the program to a Web site and design a laptop capability that will allow users to access it remotely. The contract is an extension of a previous award that had the firm working as the lead technology integrator on phase one of the project. This contract has a three-year base period and an optional five-year extension that could total $53.9 million. "SAIC and our team remain 100 percent committed to supporting the DTRA mission and enhancing their capabilities for agile, collaborative planning," said Deborah James, a senior vice president with SAIC. SAIC was awarded a $423 million contract earlier this month from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston. The bulk of the work on that contract, like this one, will be performed in Washington and Virginia. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Dec 30 07:05:48 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 02:05:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC to move WMD tool to Web, laptop Message-ID: <20061230020536.C2973-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 30 December 2006 ; United Press International SAIC to move WMD tool to Web, laptop http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20061229-105454-2492r --- SAN DIEGO, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The United States is moving a system for detecting weapons of mass destruction to a Web-based portal. The new portal can be used on a laptop as well. Science Applications International Corp., announced late Thursday it had received a three-year contract from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or DTRA, for the second phase of the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset, or IWMDT, project. The pact includes a five-year option that could bring its total value to nearly $54 million, San Diego-based SAIC said in a news release. The company will be the lead systems integrator and expand the work performed on Phase I of the project. "SAIC remains 100 percent committed to supporting the DTRA mission and enhancing their capabilities for agile, collaborative planning," said Senior Vice President Deborah James. The goal of the IWMDT project is to provide first-responders and other emergency officials to quickly access data on response and assessment in situations involving chemical, biological and nuclear threats as well as conventional explosives. A Web-based capability will enable a wide range of users to quickly access standardized plans and procedures while in the field using a standard Internet connection. The system can also be updated quickly from a central location.