Pentagon taps EDS for $258 million survivable IT program

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/recovery/story/0,10801,80575,00.html

By DAN VERTON 
APRIL 22, 2003
Computerworld 

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon today awarded Plano, Texas-based Electronic
Data Systems Corp. a contract to develop and install a survivable IT
and communications infrastructure capable of withstanding a future
terrorist attack on a scale similar to or greater than the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.

The two-year, $258 million deal falls under the auspices of the U.S.  
Department of Defense's Command Communications Survivability Program
(CSSP). The CSSP upgrade is designed to ensure the survivability,
redundancy, recoverability and security of Defense Department IT
infrastructure. It covers networks, data storage, and voice and
messaging systems at the Pentagon and various other U.S. military
facilities.

The CCSP program was created in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attack
on the Pentagon, which crippled some of the Defense Department's most
important IT and communications systems.

Although the Pentagon was able to communicate orders to deployed
military forces on Sept. 11 and the days that followed, the attack
severely damaged the U.S. Navy's Telecommunications Operations Center,
sensitive chief of naval operations offices and help desk operations
within the U.S. Army's Information Management Support Center. In
addition, the National Military Command Center, where senior defense
officials monitor global security developments, was filled with thick
smoke as a result of the explosion caused by burning jet fuel.

In a statement today, EDS said it will employ an Integrated Product
Team approach, using proven systems engineering methodology and input
from more than a dozen subcontractors. This approach delivers a
"low-risk" implementation and offers the Defense Department maximum
flexibility to take advantage of new and emerging technologies,
according to EDS.

The project partners include Verizon Federal Inc., Northrop Grumman
Information Technology, Raytheon Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp.

Al Edmonds, president of EDS U.S. Government Solutions and a former
three-star general who directed the Defense Information Systems
Agency, called the work that his company has been asked to do as part
of the CCSP program "vital to our national defense."



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