PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: John G. Watson
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 1997
OAO CORP. SELECTED FOR NEGOTIATIONS FOR JPL'S $200 MILLION
DESKTOP AND NETWORK SERVICES CONTRACT
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has announced that it has
selected OAO Corporation for negotiations for JPL's institutional
computing management contract. With extensions, the Desktop and
Network Services (DNS) contract encompasses up to 10 years and
more than $200 million in services, making this JPL's largest
outsourcing contract to date and the first time such JPL
functions have been fulfilled by a contractor. Negotiations are
ongoing, with signature slated for October 31 and implementation
for mid-December.
As JPL's outsourcing partner on the five-year computer
services contract, which includes options for up to five
additional years, OAO will initially manage hardware and software
for 7,000 of JPL's desktop computer stations, currently
inventoried at 12,000-plus. The fixed-price, performance-based
contract covers help desk services, systems administration,
software acquisitions and upgrades, computer hardware
maintenance, and hardware replenishment.
JPL Deputy Director Larry Dumas says, "We're very pleased to
have been able to select OAO for negotiations. We think highly of
their capabilities and are looking forward to working with them."
He adds, "This type of contract reflects a new emphasis at JPL in
partnering with industry to carry out our mission, focusing our
workforce on one-of-a-kind tasks that are appropriate to a
national lab."
For this contract, OAO has formed the DNS Alliance,
comprising subcontractors Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-
Packard Company (HP), and User Technology Associates, all of whom
will bring their resources to bear to help fulfill various
aspects of the contract. OAO Corporation, formed in 1973, is a
global provider of information technology solutions that has
tendered services to JPL on Mars Pathfinder, Galileo, and the
upcoming Cassini, among other missions; Digital and HP are world-
class leaders in the information technology industry; and UTA is
a small business with an outstanding record of service at JPL.
Upwards of 130 personnel, 50 of whom are JPL employees and
the remainder employed by companies having various computer-
related contracts with JPL, will be affected, including systems
administrators, hardware maintenance technicians, network
engineers, and computer programmers. They will be given the
option of becoming OAO employees with salary packages parallel to
or surpassing their current JPL salaries and guaranteed OAO
employment for a minimum of one year. In addition, JPL employees
will be allowed to transfer their JPL seniority to OAO; a three-
year JPL employee, for example, will begin at OAO with three
years of seniority and will be eligible for any benefits that
other OAO employees with three years of service receive.
Upon start-up of the contract, ownership of hardware will
continue under JPL jurisdiction, but, through a progressive
replenishment plan upgrading covered stations with OAO computers
approximately every 36 months, the Maryland firm is scheduled to
own all covered hardware by the end of 2000.
Dumas explains, "This is an excellent example of partnering
with industry. We're doing what we do best, OAO is doing what it
does best, and, together, we make a strong team. It's ultimately
in everybody's best interests to go forward."
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of
Technology.
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#9772 JGW
8/26/97