USA Spends up to $18.5M on 2G Satellite Broadband & VoIP Network for Deployed Troops

M.C. Dean Inc. in Dulles, VA received a $7 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for a second generation satellite-based internet-broadband service and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network in support of deployed military personnel. DID has covered several VoIP-related contracts, as several militaries including the USA move to adopt this technology. Locations for this contract will include Iraq and the Balkans. They will also include other current and future satellite and other non-Global Information Grid operations in the European Command, Central Command Areas of Responsibility, and other unidentified locations per tasking received by the SPAWAR Europe office. This contract includes a one-year option, which would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $18.5 million. Work will be performed in Iraq (approx. 75%) and other locations (approx. 25%), and is expected to be complete by August 2006 – or August 2007 with options. This contract was competitively procured. It was synopsized in Federal Business Opportunities on Dec. 8, 2004, and the request for proposal was posted to the SPAWAR Systems Center E-commerce website, with ten offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, SC issued the contract (N65236-05-D-5157).