Liferay Announces Partnership with Triton Services

LOS ANGELES, CA – (DATE) – Liferay, provider of the world’s leading enterprise-class, open source portal and content management system announced a new partnership with Triton Services, Inc. As a Liferay Preferred Partner, Triton will offer Liferay consulting services specific to the unique operational needs of US Government clients such as the Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Communities and other Federal, State and local agencies and offices.

“Triton’s expertise and experience in the public sector is an answer to Liferay’s increasing opportunities with government organizations,” said Bryan Cheung, Liferay’s Chief Exectutive Officer. “Triton was already active in our community and is best equipped to deliver Liferay technology to its sector of expertise.” For instance, the Triton team is versed in NetCentric Warfare and requirements, processes and protocols of Military clients working within unclassified and classified network environments.

In addition to providing services around Liferay Portal, Triton has agreed to contribute all of its research and development around JavaServer Faces (JSF) technology to Liferay’s community, including portlets for accounting, time keeping, human resources, and recruiting. The company has taken a leadership role in the open source realm with regard to testing and debugging ICEfaces™, an AJAX-enabled component suite based on JSF technology, within Liferay. By utilizing Liferay and ICEfaces, Triton is building highly responsive rich internet portlets based on AJAX technology.

“Liferay Portal was already a core part of our ongoing R&D efforts around JSF prior to this partnership,” said Triton Chairman, Ray Kwong. “Triton’s goal from the beginning was to fortify Liferay Portal with tools that provide value to government offices trying to ease their IT infrastructure burden. Becoming a Preferred Partner only underscores the cutting-edge work we’ve done with Liferay, and it allows us to serve government clients with Liferay products and services.”

For more about Liferay Portal, visit www.liferay.com. Additional information about Triton Services can be found at http://www.tritonsvc.com.

Full article.

Verso Expects At Least $10 Million in Government-Related Business

Verso Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSO), a global provider of next generation network solutions, announced today it expects to provide its next generation communication network equipment to suppliers under two government contracts. The first contract is the Defense Access Transport Services (DATS) contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA, formerly known as the Defense Communications Agency. The second contract relates to the Networx project, a $20 billion U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) project. Both projects involve the installation of next generation communication network equipment for military and non-military government agency sites throughout the United States.

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WPS lands $93 million federal contract

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corp. of Madison has won a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense potentially worth $92.7 million for claims processing, customer service and administrative services for individuals eligible for both Tricare and Medicare. Tricare is the Department of Defense's health care program for members of the uniformed services, their families and survivors. Tricare also offers health care programs for retired service members, including pharmacy, dental and other services.

The contract term, with several options, is for a total of seven years. If fully exercised, the estimated delivery order value through the option period is $92,739,069.

The base period for transition is Aug. 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. Delivery for claims processing, customer service and administrative services will begin on July 1, 2008.

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GAO Denies ID Card Contract Protests

Congress' investigative agency on Monday denied protests filed by several technology companies after they lost a $66 million contract to provide identification cards to federal workers.

More information.

Unisys to bid on federal IT contract

Unisys Corp., the Blue Bell computer company, said today it has been designated by the federal government to bid on its new Alliant contract.

The 10-year contract has a $50 billion price ceiling, and Unisys said it is the largest single information technology contract the federal government has ever issued. Alliant will allow federal agencies to procure information technology services from private contractors.

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New Rule Governing Federal Contractors' Obligations to Veterans

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published regulations that implement changes to the nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations of federal contractors and subcontractors with respect to protected veterans.

The changes are required by the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA), which was enacted by Congress in 2002 and amended section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA). Among other actions, the JVA expanded the categories of veterans protected by the affirmative action provisions of the law and changed the manner in which federal contractors must list employment openings.

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USGIF Launches Geospatial Intelligence Certificate Program

An interesting announcement from the USGIF today... The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) today announced the launch of its Geospatial Intelligence Certificate Program to support the professional education needs of the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. Colleges and universities are encouraged to apply to accredit their geospatial intelligence certificate program based on the criteria developed by USGIF. Applications can be found online at http://www.usgif.org/About_Committees_Academic.aspx. Applications must be submitted by Oct. 31 for evaluation starting in November or by February 2008 for evaluation in May 2008.

More information.

Agencies struggle to meet goals on opening work to contractors

Agencies are struggling to make progress on President Bush's initiative to open federal jobs to bids from contractors, according to a new quarterly score card released by the Office of Management and Budget Monday.

The assessment for the third quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended June 30, showed five agencies with with one-level drops in their competitive sourcing grades and a sixth with a two-level downgrade. The score card gives agencies traffic-light-style ratings of red for "unsatisfactory," yellow for "mixed results" and green for "success."
The Agriculture, Labor, State and Transportation departments went down to yellow marks in competitive sourcing, while the Housing and Urban Development department moved down one notch and the Energy Department, two, to red. Only one agency -- the Homeland Security Department -- improved in that area, from red to yellow. Nine of the 26 agencies graded remained at green.

Competitive sourcing, which asks agencies to create inventories of work that could be performed by the private sector and open some of those jobs to bids, had by far the most movement of the five main President's Management Agenda initiatives graded on the score card.

Read full article here.

IceWEB Receives $437K Government Contract

IceWEB Inc. (IWEB.OB) on Friday said it won a contract valued at $437 thousand to provide Software Risk Analysis tools manufactured by Ounce Labs to a Federal Agency. Commenting on the receipt of the contract, Tim McNamee, IceWEB's Vice President of Sales, said, "Most organizations pay close attention to ensuring that their networks are secure from threats, but here is an example of where our government leads the way in also taking steps to ensure that their mission critical software is free of security vulnerabilities".

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Northrop Grumman Contributes Expertise to Military Exercise Testing Emerging Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Concepts

Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) recent participation in a joint military exercise will enhance its work with the U.S. Joint Forces Command to improve how military forces conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Northrop Grumman contributed its modeling, simulation and analysis expertise to Empire Challenge 07, a demonstration of how coalition forces can work together to collect, analyze and share information. The exercise, sponsored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and involving multiple U.S. government agencies and coalition nations, was conducted July 9-27 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif.

Lessons learned from the demonstration will be used in ongoing work under a cooperative research agreement between Northrop Grumman and the Joint Forces Command. The goal of the three-year agreement, signed in April 2007, is to identify ways to shorten the military commander's cycle of tasking sensors to collect intelligence, analyzing the information and disseminating it to warfighters. Shortening that cycle would enhance warfighters' situational awareness and increase their chance of success.

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Web System Vets U.S. Contractor Workers

The U.S. federal government and the 3.3 million people who work as private-industry contractors to provide goods and services for it now have a centralized, secure, Web-based system for identifying and credentialing outsourced workers around the world.

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Juvaris wins $9 million contract

Pleasanton-based Juvaris BioTherapeutics Tuesday announced another big shot in the arm from the federal government - a $9 million grant over five years to develop a way to boost the effectiveness of flu vaccines.

Juvaris will split an undetermined portion of the money with researchers at Stanford University and California National Primate Research Center at the University of California-Davis, which will help do research. Their studies will focus on JuvaVax - an adjuvant or vaccine additive Juvaris has developed - which has been shown in initial tests to increase the body's immune response to various kinds of influenza.

The grant was issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which last year awarded Juvaris and Stanford a two-year, $1 million grant to begin work on a vaccine to counter a bird-flu outbreak.

Full article.

Bill to target waste in contracting moves to Senate floor

August 1, 2007 - The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved a bill Wednesday aimed at increasing competition and reducing waste in government contracting.

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Nortel-Led Team Wins $300M Federal Contract

A team led by Nortel Government Solutions has won a $300 million contract to replace the Social Security Administration’s worldwide telephone system.

The contract covers 10 years.

The Nortel team will install a converged voice and data network utilizing Internet Protocol technology. The Nortel subsidiary will design the network.
According to Nortel, the contract will be one of the largest voice over Internet Protocol based implementations in the world.

General Dynamics, Black Box Network Services, Shared Technologies, AT&T, York Telecom, High Wire Networks, NetIQ and Pal-Tech are Nortel’s partners in the project.

Full Article here.

Dynamics Research Corporation Awarded GSA Alliant Contract

Dynamics Research Corporation , a leading provider of innovative engineering, technical and information technology services and solutions to federal and state governments, today announced that it was awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) Alliant Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). Under the terms of the contract, DRC will offer a broad range of information technology (IT) services and business solutions to the Department of Defense, civilian agencies, and the intelligence community.

DRC was one of 29 companies awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract with a ceiling value of $50 billion to provide integrated information technology services and solutions, including infrastructure, applications and IT management. The GSA anticipates the government will use this vehicle to incorporate new and emerging technologies. The contract has a five-year base performance period and one five-year option period.

Full story.

Intelligent Decisions Wins NASA SEWP-IV Contract

August 01, 2007 - Intelligent Decisions, Inc., one of the fastest growing systems integrators providing a broad range of IT hardware, software, manufacturing, and service solutions to the Federal government and Fortune 1000 customers, today announced that it has secured a contract as a certified small, minority-owned business under the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV Program. The Intelligent Decisions SEWP-IV award is a seven year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) with a maximum value of $5.6 billion.

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Alliant IT Contract Spans Big Names

August 1, 2007 - The government named 29 companies yesterday as potential recipients of a $50 billion, 10-year information technology contract.The winners of the contract, known as Alliant, spanned the government-contracting community, from large defense firms like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics to mid-tier players like Booz Allen Hamilton and CACI International.Under the deal, the contractors are now qualified to compete for individual government information technology projects, which could include writing computer software and building computer networks. The contract winners are guaranteed only $2,500 in work, but there is no upper limit on the size of the contracts, according to the General Services Administration.

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U.S. General Services Administration Awards Harris Corporation Alliant IT Services Government-Wide Acquisition Contract

Harris Corporation , an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded a 5-year Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) by the U.S. General Services Administration to provide integrated IT solutions that support federal agency missions. Harris was one of 29 companies to be awarded the initial Alliant contract, which has an additional 5-year option that brings the total 10-year contract ceiling to $50 billion.

Under the contract, Harris will compete with the other companies to provide a wide range of IT products and services to support federal agency needs in the United States and overseas. The Harris solutions will be designed to meet requirements for individual IT applications, general IT management, and overall IT infrastructure needs.

Full article.

GSA awards $50B technology contract

Twenty-nine companies -- including Electronic Data Systems Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and AT&T Inc. -- on Tuesday were awarded a federal computer systems contract potentially worth up to $50 billion over 10 years.The General Services Administration, the government's main buying arm, said the contract covers most technology services, such as computer design, software engineering and systems integration.The so-called Alliant contract is open to all federal agencies, including the Defense Department, and getting on the long-anticipated contract is a big deal for the companies.

Read entire article here.

U.S. Army Awards TCS $3.5 Million Addition to Military Transition SATCOM Contract

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS) today announced it has received a $3.5 million contract increase by the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Lifecycle Management Command contracting authority at Ft. Monmouth, N.J. for satellite communications equipment and services to support Military Transition Teams (MiTTs). MiTTs are U.S. Army or Marine teams that embed and train with Allied forces in the War on Terror. MiTTs advise the Allied security forces in the areas of intelligence, communications, fire support, logistics and infantry tactics.

Awarded through the Army's World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle, this addition brings the total TCS funded value on this order to approximately $14.4 million. MiTT is a three-year contract with a potential total value of over $29 million if all contract options are exercised.

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ManTech Awarded Two Major Government IDIQ Contract Vehicles

ManTech International Corporation (Nasdaq:MANT) announced it has been awarded contracts for two multiple-award programs - the General Services Administration’s Alliant program which has a $50 billion ceiling and the Department of State’s Security Assurance Services and Innovation (SASI) contract which has a $710 million aggregate value. Both of the competitively awarded contracts are multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) type contracts.

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Rebid Possibilities after Contract Termination for Default

If the competition happened to slip past you and they won a contract you were pursuing, a contract termination rebid is possible if the winning contractor defaults and fails to perform the terms of the contract. A default termination is what usually results if the contractor fails to perform in the interest of the government.

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PepCo Energy Services Supplies Green Electricity to Several Large Government Facilities in the Nation's Capital

Pepco Energy Services, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. and a leader in renewable electricity initiatives, has signed agreements to supply electricity generated from renewable sources to the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, Office of Personnel Management, National Archives and Inter-American Development Bank, all located in Washington, D.C.

To read more.

Action Office Supplies Awarded Federal Contract for new Iraq Embassy

Action Office Supplies (AOS), Inc. announced today they were awarded a federal government contract to supply office products to the American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

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Intelligence Community Needs a Human Touch

The day of the spy-in-the-sky approach to intelligence gathering may be coming to an end, plagued by cost overruns and systems so complex they take too long to perfect and probably most importantly are increasingly less useful in the age of terrorism.

That was the clear signal sent out by National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell recently when he canceled the multibillion-dollar Misty system being developed by Lockheed Martin. McConnell didn't say so, but one can only hope that the satellite technology that has held sway in the CIA and Pentagon so ineffectively will be replaced by more emphasis on human resources. The satellites work best when keeping a magic eye on fixed military installations and the movement of large groups but not so well in locating small units and individuals.

To read more.

Department of the Air Force Awards 30.4M ISR Support Contract to SRA

SRA International, Inc. , a leading provider of technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to federal government organizations, has been awarded a competitive contract to provide a range of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services to the Department of the Air Force. The five- year contract has an estimated value of $30.4 million if all options are exercised.

For more information.

The Best Jobs: Civil Service or Government Contractor?

There’s good news on both sides. Government agencies and contractors alike have plenty of jobs to offer and good salaries to go with them. Both are looking for qualified, well trained, security-cleared candidates. So what’s the better choice when you’re in the market for a new defense industry career?

Continue reading the article.

DynCorp Posts First Quarter Profit, Shares Fall on Contract Fears

Government contractor Dyncorp International Inc. (DCP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a first-quarter profit and backed its full-year forecast, but shares fell on investor fears that the company may have to compete again for a large U.S. Army contract.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office is reviewing a $4.6 billion Army linguistics contract awarded to a DynCorp joint venture, after the current holder of the contract, L-3 Communications Holdings (LLL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) challenged the award.

For more information from the complete article.

US Government Being Hit by Massive Security Breaches

Contractors and US government employees are sharing hundreds of secret documents on peer-to-peer networks, in many cases overriding the default security settings on their P-to-P software to do so, according to a company that monitors the networks.

For more from the complete article.

Welcome to U.S. Executive Protection

I don't know much about this company, but the website is one of the coolest I've seen in a while. They seem to be a VIP protection company based in NewYork. I'll have to see if I can find more information to post here on the blog about them.

The website.

Radio Reconnaissance Technologies, Inc.

RRT Inc. provides ruggedized intelligence and electronic warfare products as well as engineering and program management services. Their clients include Department of Defense and other Government agencies and commercial suppliers involved with tactical electronic surveillance, direction finding and other information warfare solutions for special operations forces and law enforcement.

Radio Reconnaissance Technologies brings a flexible, collaborative approach to delivering real-world, practical technology solutions to the tactical special operations forces community. They have significant operational experience and are grounded in today's mission challenges.

Their products include:

RRT Products

Pelican Watertight Cases

Ultralife Batteries

AOR Receivers

For more information see: http://www.radiorecon.com/

Cipher Expands It's Scientific Consulting Team

Crofton, MD – Cipher, North America’s largest competitive intelligence consultancy, has expanded its already strong commitment to the life-sciences, with the addition of three new PhDs to its consulting staff.

“Cipher has always had strong ties to the life-sciences, delivering consulting services on the behalf of global pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology customers, but we have noticed a growing need for scientific intelligence services from our life sciences customers. To meet this demand, Cipher has added three very talented scientific consultants to our staff,” says Peter McKenney, Cipher’s CEO.

New to Cipher’s research staff are:

• Catherine Dain, MD: Dr. Dain has her doctorate in pediatric medicine, and graduated as a Master of Science (microbial biodefense) from George Mason University. Previous to joining Cipher she served as Research Faculty at the National Center for Biodefense, as well as Director of Science and Technology at Lamina Equities. Her specialties include Pediatrics, Biodefense, Bioterrorism and Biology.

• John Jakupciak, PhD: Dr. Jakupciak earned his Ph.D., Genetics from Texas A&M University,
Institute of Biosciences and Technology. He also has a M.S. Chemistry and B.A. Biology. Prior to
working with Cipher, Dr. Jakupciak was a research scientist for such organizations as the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.

• Jeffrey Wells, PhD: Dr. Wells received his doctorate in Biophysics from the State University of NYBuffalo. His areas of expertise include fluorescence & UV-vis spectroscopy, optical microscopy, colorimetric assaying, dynamic light scattering particle analysis, surfactant formulation, liquid chromatography, cell culturing, in vivo experimentation, constructing laser systems, image processing, basic chemical synthesis, imaging systems and processing, technical writing, analytical hardware maintenance, 3-D computer-aided modeling, materials science, optics, physics, organic chemistry, biology.

In recent months, Cipher has become more actively involved in long-term scientific research projects. Examples of these engagements include:

• Vaccine Development Best Practice Assessment: Cipher is employing its Life Sciences expertise to map, assess and optimize the biological and chemical defense portfolio of one of its institutional customers. Cipher is also working to identify and assess methods and technologies across industry and academia for their applicability in accelerating Transformational Medical Technology Initiative (TMTI) to radically transform the manner in which critical biodefense research medical countermeasures are developed.

• Direct DNA Sequencing for High Speed Bio-sensing: This task investigates what advantages may accrue if novel, innovative methods of direct sequencing of genomic DNA were developed to address biosensing requirements, and compares these advantages to other advanced sensing technologies to determine best of class performance in key operational attributes.

Cipher is a full service competitive intelligence firm serving clients around the world. Cipher consultants are experienced in delivering strategic research and analysis services across industries. Cipher consultants also deliver customizable decision support technology solutions including Cipher’s award-winning competitive intelligence software, Knowledge.WorksTM, and new individual research support software, IntelAssist TM.

To read more: Cipher Systems