RT to LRAD...REUTERS Five teams vie for US border security contract
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Five industry teams are competing for a $2.1
billion contract to be awarded next month to help the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security beef up security along over 7,500 miles of U.S. borders
with Mexico and Canada.
The winning bidder will help unify existing technologies and install new
tracking sensors and communications equipment so border agents can better
monitor regions that range from urban centers to desert, to huge lakes and
forested mountains.
"There are many different elements of border security already in place, but
there is a need for an integrated approach to securing the borders," said
Kia Evans, spokeswoman for the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) that was
unveiled by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last November.
Evans said the department's Customs and Border Protection Agency would award
the "SBInet" contract by Sept. 30 and it would run for three to five years.
Bidding to tie all the pieces together are U.S. defense contractors,
Lockheed Martin Corp. <LMT.N>, Boeing Co. <BA.N>, Northrop Grumman Corp.
<NOC.N> and Raytheon Co. <RTN.N>, as well as Sweden's Ericsson <ERICb.ST>.
Each has put together a team of U.S. and foreign companies specializing in
everything from sensors to visual recognition technology to long-range
cameras.
Boeing, teamed with L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. <LLL.N>, Unisys Corp.
<UIS.N> and others, on Tuesday explained its bid, which relies on over 300
radar towers along the borders, some supplemented by cameras developed by
Israel's Elbit <ESLT.TA> which can spot people at up to 14 kilometers and
vehicles at up to 20 kilometers.
Boeing's SBInet program director Jerry McElwee stressed the company's
low-cost, best-value approach and said the company's integration of other
major programs, including the Army's Future Combat Systems, gave it the
needed experience.
Lockheed Martin plans to announce its partners next week, said Jane Rudolph,
vice president of business development for Lockheed's transportation and
security division.
She said Lockheed was already involved in homeland security through its
joint venture with Northrop to modernize the Coast Guard, and a customs
modernization program begun before the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks.
Shortly afterward, she said Lockheed also mobilized 1,000 employees to
revamp passenger checkpoints at 429 U.S. airports in about six months.
Raytheon says its experience on a $1.4 billion project to secure Brazil's
Amazon region -- an area that would cover two-thirds of the continental
United States -- makes it an ideal candidate for SBInet. Its teammates
include IBM <IBM.N>, BAE Systems <BA.L> and privately owned Bechtel.
Northrop, which won a smaller DHS contract for surveillance at land ports
along the southwest border on Monday, has been providing information
technology support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2002.
Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said information technologies represented
the largest source of revenue for the company, accounting for about 32
percent of total revenues, or $10 billion, in 2005.
Northrop's partners include General Dynamics Corp. <GD.N>, L-3, and Anteon
Corp. which is being taken over by General Dynamics.
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Reuters group of companies around the world. 29Aug06 23:13 GMT
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