Seven separate office equipment manufacturers will share in a near-half-billion-dollar defense contract to supply the U.S. Army with commercial-off-the-shelf multi-functional devices, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
Just one of 21 new defense contracts handed out today, the $498 million firm-fixed-price, multiple award task order contract was awarded to Canon (CAJ -3.72%), Lexmark (LXK), and Xerox (XRX), as well as foreign-listed firms Konica Minolta and Ricoh, and two other privately held firms.
Pursuant to the contract terms, these seven firms will bid against each other to win individual task orders under the umbrella contract, drawing funds from the overall $498 million pot. Equipment to be supplied under the contract, including "accessories, associated consumable supplies, maintenance, and repair services," will be used to "integrate, modernize and refresh the Army's base architecture while providing standardized interfaces."
