Pentagon Awards $45.5 Million in Miscellaneous Defense Contracts

On Friday, the Department of Defense announced a number of smallish (in defense industry terms) contracts awarded to several publicly traded companies.

• The largest award went to gas and electric utility Integrys Energy (NYSE: TEG  ) , which won a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for the direct supply of a maximum of $14.9 million worth of "pipeline quality natural gas" to Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and federal civilian agency customers in the northeast region. This contract runs through March 31, 2015.
• L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL  ) was awarded a $12.4 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to supply spare parts for AN/PVS-15, AN/PVS-18, and AN/PVS-31 model night vision goggles. This contract funds delivery of goggles as ordered through March 2018.
• The Air Force awarded privately held Sierra Nevada Corp. a $10.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for work on operational systems for "the functional development model." The contract notification contains no more details than this. It is unclear whether the contract has anything to do with the disputed Sierra Nevada/Embraer (NYSE: ERJ  ) contract to supply the Air Force with Super Tucano fighter planes for use by the Afghan Air Force.
• Last, smallest, and most mysterious, Science Applications International (NYSE: SAI  ) won an $8.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to perform work for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. What kind of work remains a mystery, however, because as the DOD contract specifies: "this effort is classified."