General Dynamics Awarded $867 Million DHS IT Project

Inside DHS' Classified Cyber-Coordination Headquarters

The General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded General Dynamics a seven-year, $867 million contract to develop IT infrastructure for a consolidated Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters. The award was previously given to Northrop Grumman but revoked after a protest by competitive contractors.

The GSA is handling the Alliant government-wide acquisition contract for the new DHS headquarters at the St. Elizabeth campus in southeast Washington, which will unite, in one central location, 22 department agencies that currently span 35 offices.

The agency's Federal Systems Integration and Management Center awarded the contract to General Dynamics, which will work with the DHS to create a green, energy-efficient IT infrastructure for the campus, according to the GSA.

The contract covers a broad set of IT and communications technology, including the design, procurement, configuration, installation, testing, security, and maintenance of an integrated network infrastructure. General Dynamics also will be responsible for all voice, video, and data transport across the campus.

Last September, the GSA awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to build the IT and communications infrastructure for new DHS campus. The original award was for $2.63 billion over a 10-year period.

However, competitive bidders Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics protested the award, claiming project requirements were too vague for them to bid effectively. In response, the GSA pulled back Northrop's contract in December and issued a new solicitation for the project, allowing contractors to rebid for it.

For its part, Northrop protested the GSA's move, a protest that was denied by the agency in March. This paved the way for the GSA to award the project to another bidder.

The DHS St. Elizabeth project-so named because the campus is being built on the former St. Elizabeth hospital in the Anacostia community of Washington-is the largest federal construction project in the district since the Pentagon was built in the early 1940s.

The project initially was expected to be completed by 2016. However, if the project is delayed further by a protest over the General Dynamics award, that schedule may change.

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