$255M for SAIC to Assist Co-operative Threat Reduction Program
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Asia - Central, Biological Weapons, Chemical Weapons, Domestic Security, Issues - International, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, T&C - SAIC, WMD, WMD Proliferation
Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) of San Diego, Calif., was awarded July 5, 2005, an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a potential cumulative total of $255 million over a five-year ordering period for advisory and assistant services for the Army’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, a.k.a. Nunn-Lugar. Work will be performed at SAIC’s Alexandria and McLean, VA offices.
Through the CTR program, the Department of Defense provides equipment, services, and technical advice to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to assist them in eliminating (or in the case of Russia, reducing) the weapons of mass destruction remaining from the Soviet era, preventing proliferation, and dismantling the associated infrastructure or transforming portions of it to engage in peaceful civilian activities.
The U.S. objectives in the CTR program as established by Congress are to cooperate with the Newly Independent States (NIS) to:
- Destroy nuclear, chemical, and other weapons of mass destruction;
- Transport, store, disable, and safeguard weapons in connection with their destruction;
- Establish verifiable safeguards against proliferation of such weapons;
- Prevent diversion of weapons-related expertise;
- Facilitate demilitarization of defense industries and conversion of military capabilities and technologies; and
- Expand defense and military contacts between the United States and the NIS.
These objectives are inextricably linked with each other. Meeting the objective of safeguarding nuclear weapons in Russia, for example, will also help prevent proliferation, a growing concern in light of reports of nuclear material smuggling.
The Jan. 25, 2005, announcement resulted in two bids being received in the full and open, web-based solicitation. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Fort Belvoir, VA issued the contract (DTRA1-05-D-0002).
Additional Readings & Sources
- U.S. DoD DefenseLink – CTR
- NTI.org – Russia: The Defense Enterprise Fund
- Matthew Maly (whistleblower named in the above NTI.org article) – D.E.F. and Dumb: The Scandal of Soviet WMDs
