Despite intensive scrutiny of embattled military contractor Blackwater for killing Iraqi civilians, the Moyock, N.C.-based company will still share a chunk of an unrelated $15 billion U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command contract awarded last month. Blackwater, Lockheed Martin, ARINC Engineering Services, Raytheon, and Northrup Grumman/TASC, Inc. were jointly awarded the multi-billion contract Aug. 24, The Peacock Report belatedly discovered through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. According to a related solicitation document, the companies will, among other tasks, conduct research & development for the Dept. of Defense (DoD) Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO). Services provided under this contract, which will be awarded in estimated annual disbursements of $100 million-$300 million for the life of the contract, fall into the general categories of Technology Development and Application; Training, Operations, and Logistics Support; and Professional and Executive Support.
The Technology Development and Application Support category primarily involves intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance-related counter-drug and counter-narcoterrorism technology. Examples of Training, Operations and Logistics Support include "security force training for border police in Afghanistan; air crew training for Columbia [sic]; leasing armored vehicles for security forces training in Afghanistan; and building a firing range for training in Afghanistan," according to the document. Professional and Executive Support includes the provision of administrative support for DoD-wide Combatant Commands; "strategic public relations support to senior government officials in Afghanistan and Columbia [sic]; geographic information system support in Columbia[sic]; and the purchase of boots for counter narcoterrorist police in Afghanistan," it said.
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