Litton-PRC and XTec Join Forces to Provide Federal Agencies with Common, Interoperable Smart Card Technology
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, June 08, 2000 -- PRC, Inc., a subsidiary of Litton Industries (NYSE: LIT), announced it was one of five prime vendors awarded a contract by the General Services Administration (GSA) to offer common, interoperable multi-application smart card systems and services to all federal agencies. This ID/IQ program (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) has an estimated total value of $1.5 billion, a 10-year period of performance, and will initially focus on providing employee identification and building access, as well as computer network access. Litton PRC proposed an interoperability solution to define smart card standards for use, government-wide. The Litton PRC approach, being further studied by an expanded GSA committee, is a non-proprietary, open systems solution that is not dependent on specific product sets, and which provides maximum flexibility to the federal government.
The contract will support several initiatives including heightened government employee security, growth of Internet and electronic commerce, and process re-engineering. "The smart card will be based on an integrated circuit chip (ICC) and will likely include a variety of technologies including magnetic stripe, biometrics and other media, as required by individual agencies," said Cathy Whalen, Litton PRC vice president.
The Litton PRC team includes Centurion, Cubic Corporation, Lex Solutions, Soza, Security Technologies Group, Litton TASC, UII and XTec.
"Smart card technology is truly the wave of the future," said Leonard M. Pomata, Litton vice president and president of Litton PRC. "This contract award enables Litton PRC to take a logical next step in delivering federal agencies advanced e-commerce and security offerings." The smart card contract vehicle has the flexibility to allow agencies to build on legacy systems while still incorporating the new smart card technology.
Litton PRC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, and information technology-based solutions for public sector clients. Litton PRC is one of the divisions that comprise Litton's Information Systems Group (ISG). Litton PRC has achieved the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) capability maturity model (CMM) Level 5 rating, the highest software development process improvement level a company can earn. This rating indicates that Litton PRC has achieved an "optimizing" level of maturity, which translates to reduced risk for their customers. Litton ISG, headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, employs more than 9,200 in 150 offices nationwide, and is ranked as one of the Federal government's top 10 Information Technology contractors.
Litton is one of the nation's leading shipbuilders for the U.S. Navy and the largest builder of non-nuclear ships. Litton designs, builds, and overhauls surface ships for government and commercial customers, worldwide. The company is a leading information technology (IT) contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial customers and government customers in local/foreign jurisdictions. Litton provides defense and commercial electronics technology, components, and materials for customers, worldwide. Headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, the company has more than 40,000 employees, and is expected to have more than $5 billion revenue.
