DISA won't pursue I-Assure follow-on

The Defense Information Systems Agency reversed a decision and said it does not plan to pursue a follow-on procurement to its $1.5 billion information assurance contract that expires next summer. DISA said a variety of alternative contract vehicles are available within the Defense Department that can meet information assurance requirements.In March, agency officials said at an industry day presentation they intended to recompete the original I-Assure contract that was awarded in July 2000 and expires in July 2007.In a Nov. 27 statement, DISA said that because alternative contract vehicles exist now that did not exist when the initial I-Assure contract was awarded, the agency does not intend to begin the acquisition process for a new and separate information assurance contract vehicle.The original I-Assure contract was designed to provide fully integrated systems security for DOD and other federal agencies. The contract was structured to permit purchase of information assurance solutions, including hardware, software engineering services and technical support.Companies holding I-Assure contracts are: ACS Defense, Artel, Computer Sciences Corp., DigitalNet, EDS, Northrop Grumman, Pragmatics, Science Applications International Corp., Systems Research and Applications, TASC and Veridian Information Solutions.