The Department of Defense awarded Science Applications International Corporation, better known as SAIC (NYSE: SAI), a $179.6 million "non-competitive acquisition," firm-fixed-price, non-option-eligible, non-multiyear contract onTuesday.
The contract hires SAIC to support the U.S. Army's "Saturn Arch" program in Afghanistan and, in particular, to perform operations, sustainment, and integration work on aircraft platforms configured to host a suite of sensors deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The Pentagon's announcement notes that this contract is a "hybrid," with some elements paid at a fixed price, and other reimbursed at cost.
The U.S. Army describes Saturn Arch as having the broad goal of " theaterwide improvised explosive device neutralizing." In essence, its aim is to make IEDs (roadside bombs) less deadly by using intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to "identify and assist in removing IEDs from the battlefield in Afghanistan."
