General Dynamics wins Army IT contract worth billions

By: Daniel Cebul

WASHINGTON — The Army awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems a contract worth as much as $3.9 billion for commercial off-the-shelf IT hardware that could be purchased quickly during the next three years.

In an Aug. 1 announcement, the Department of Defense said the contract would be used for the Army's common hardware systems 5th generation (CHS-5) program. The three-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a possible $3.9 billion ceiling, that includes two one-year options.

The CHS-5 funding will serve as a kind of piggy bank for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and more than 100 DoD program offices to draw from for the rapid acquisition and delivery of tactical commercial-off-the-shelf IT hardware. The contract also covers technical assistance support services and logistics support, including repair and replacement of equipment. It accounts for between 75,000 to 100,00 pieces of hardware.

“The buying power and rapid execution of COTS IT hardware procurements and services are what makes CHS valuable to the Army,” Breck Tarr, the program's product lead, said in an Sept. 2017 press release. “We want to see proposals with innovative techniques to reduce timelines without compromising quality. The ability to deliver the exact configuration when the Government needs hardware is critical to supporting fielding schedules and sustainment.”

CHS-5 builds on the previous contract, the unsurprisingly named CHS-4. The new contract was expected to include a pre-negotiation pricing schedule for the life of the contract; additional warranty options; incentives to provide the lowest price hardware; and the ability to procure technical data packages based on competitive pricing, according to an Army press release.

Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/08/02/general-dynamics-wins-army-it-contract-worth-billions/