$351.8 million for Survivable U.S. Nuclear Command Systems

Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, IA received a $351.8 firm fixed price, cost-plus award-fee, time and materials contract for the GEMS systems. GEMS will provide strategic posts and associated mobile support teams with survivable inter-site/ intra-site communications paths to receive emergency action messages (EAMs) and force management messages from nuclear command and control nodes (inter-site), then disseminate them to their bomber, tanker, and reconnaissance aircrews (intra-site). The GEMS system will be developed and fielded in both a fixed and a transportable configuration utilizing layered system architecture. GEMS will provide extremely high frequency and very low frequency/ low frequency communications and aircrew alerting, as well as receiving, computing, routing, storing, and disseminating capability for EAMs and other force direction and force management messages from the Nuclear Command and Control Systems nodes to aircrews in the seats and to nuclear execution ground support forces. Work will be performed at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, IA (40%), and Richardson, TX (60%). Solicitation began April 2005, negotiations were completed June 2005, and work will be complete by May 2011. The Headquarters Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA issued the contract (FA8726-05-D-0003, 0001).