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Computer Sciences nabs contract

A joint venture including the information-technology services provider lands a $2.7 billion contract to provide support to an Air Force center.

Ed Frauenheim Former Staff Writer, News
Ed Frauenheim covers employment trends, specializing in outsourcing, training and pay issues.
Ed Frauenheim
2 min read
Continuing its push into the government sector, Computer Sciences on Wednesday said it is part of a joint venture that won a $2.7 billion, 12-year contract to provide support to a U.S. Air Force center.

El Segundo, Calif.-based CSC holds 37.5 percent of the voting shares in the partnership, which is called the Aerospace Testing Alliance. ATA also includes Jacobs Engineering Group and General Physics. Information technology services provider CSC will get 37.5 percent of the partnership's profits.

The contract calls on the partnership to provide operations, maintenance and information management support to the Air Force Materiel Command's Arnold Engineering Development Center at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, and at the center's Hypervelocity Tunnel Nine in White Oak, Md. The contract is valued at $2.7 billion if all options are exercised.

Under the agreement, which begins Oct. 1, more than 2,000 people will support the center.

Earlier this year, CSC completed its acquisition of DynCorp, a consulting services provider that focused on federal government clients. For the quarter ended March 28, CSC's revenue from the U.S. federal government was $993.8 million, up 19 percent from the comparable quarter of 2002. CSC's overall revenue for the quarter was $3.08 billion.

The new contract builds on previous work CSC has done for the Air Force center. Through a separate partnership involving DynCorp and General Physics, CSC supported many of the center's operations, while a Jacobs Engineering-led group supported others, said Jim Nicholson, CSC's Defense Group vice president. "The ATA joint venture formalizes a relationship that has existed informally since 1995," Nicholson said.

Arnold Engineering Development Center bills itself as the nation's largest complex of flight-simulation test facilities. The test facilities simulate flight from subsonic to hypersonic speeds at altitudes from sea level to space, according to the center's Web site.