SAN DIEGO, 25 May 2010. The U.S. Navy is buying common shipboard data networking equipment under terms of contracts worth a collective potential $502.2 million in an effort to provide modern and rapidly upgradeable shipboard computer local area networking services like instant messaging, data broadcast, and shipboard intranets.
Officials of the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) awarded contracts with a collective minimum of $408.8 million contracts to three U.S. defense companies Monday for the Common Afloat Local Area Network Infrastructure (CALI) program -- an initiative to embrace rapidly evolving computer technology along the business model of the Acoustics Rapid COTS Insertion (A-RCI) program to get the latest sonar processing gear aboard U.S. submarines.
The three companies -- Lockheed Martin Corp. Mission Systems & Sensors (MS2) segment in Eagan, Minn.; Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in San Diego; and General Dynamics One Source LLC in Fairfax, Va -- will vie for CALI contracts over the next eight years worth a total of between $408.8 million and $502.2 million.
The CALI contracts are only part of an overall U.S. Navy initiative to replace its obsolescent computer and data networking systems aboard its surface ships and submarines. In March the Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors (MS2) Tactical Systems in San Diego and the Northrop Grumman Information Systems segment in Reston, Va., won contracts to provide the CANES common computing environment (CCE) as part of the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program.
The CALI and CANES programs aim to accommodate computer and networking technology as it evolves, and to mitigate computer obsolescence in the Navy's fleet of ships and submarines.
The CALI contracts awarded Monday to Lockheed Martin, SAIC, and General Dynamics concentrate on providing the Navy with shipboard network infrastructure -- specifically in production, engineering, and common computing environment components.
The CALI contracts include engineering services such as integrated logistics support, configuration management, test and evaluation, quality assurance, and installation support.
Specific requirements of the CALI program will be defined in individual orders issued in several contract awards, which will include an optional ordering period which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of each contract to an estimated $502.2 million, Navy officials say.
Lockheed Martin, SAIC, and General Dynamics will do work on the CALI contracts in Eagan, Minn, San Diego, and Fairfax, Va., and should be finished by the end of May 2014.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin MS2 online at www.lockheedmartin.com/ms2, SAIC at www.saic.com, General Dynamics One Source at www.anteon.com, or SPAWAR at www.spawar.navy.mil.
