ESC team works to safeguard national assets

  • Published
  • By Patty Welsh
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  A team from the Electronic Systems Center is ensuring national assets are fully protected with compliant systems, and last week one such project moved to certification.

The Force Protection Program Office has led an effort for the past 15 months to revitalize a defunct security system at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. The new Tinker intrusion detection system has completed government acceptance testing and is scheduled to undergo certification by Air Force Materiel Command by mid-July.

"The most important aspect of this project is protecting assets critical to supporting our warfighters around the world," said Patrick Dagle, FP program chief.

The Tinker effort integrated different technologies into one complete system, allowing the security force members operating the system to now have the capability to rapidly detect and neutralize intruders.

This milestone is the first under the Force Protection Security System, or FPS2, contract, an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract designed to expedite fielding of security systems for assets critical to national security.

The FPS2 ID/IQ contract was awarded in July 2009 to three different contractors: L-3 Communications, Science Applications International Corp., and Northrop Grumman. These three contractors now compete for delivery orders through this contract vehicle.

The cost savings realized through this effort is substantial and streamlines the entire process from solicitation to contract award.

The Tinker delivery order was awarded in February 2010 to SAIC.

According to Victor Lung, program office acquisition support, the Tinker project was completed at a savings of approximately $700,000.

There are a number of other ongoing delivery orders using the FPS2 contract.

"While each project is different and has its own unique challenges, the lessons learned from the Tinker project will go a long way toward the successful completion of those projects," said John Nawrocki, program manager.

Although the project may seem small compared to other government projects, it still required an extraordinary amount of coordination, especially between the program office at ESC, the contractor and the personnel at Tinker.

"Constant communication between all the parties involved made us able to resolve unforeseen issues," said Mr. Dagle. "The hard work and dedication of all was vital to the success of the project."