Comtech Mobile Datacom has been awarded a contract to continue the provision of sustainment support for the US Army’s Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below-Blue Force Tracking (BFT-1) programme.
Under the terms of the $38.2m deal, the Comtech Telecommunications subsidiary will provide engineering services and satellite-network operations on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis, and programme-management services on a firm-fixed-price basis, over the next three years.
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The contract has a one-year base performance period, and a total estimated value of $13.6m. It also includes two one-year option periods.
Comtech Telecommunications president and chief executive officer Fred Kornberg said: "The receipt of these contracts further demonstrates the ongoing importance of the US Army’s BFT-1 satellite-tracking communication system."
In addition, the company has entered into a new BFT-1 IP contract with a potential value of $30m that enables the army to license certain aspects of Comtech’s intellectual property (IP).
This includes a $10m annual fee beginning 1 April and ending 31 March 2015, with two 12-month option periods.
The army will also receive a limited non-exclusive right to use Comtech’s IP after March 2017 for no additional fee if it exercises the two options and pays an aggregate of $30m of annual licence fees.
Initial funded orders of $12.5m, including the $10m annual IP fee for the base period, have already been placed by the army under these contracts, while negotiations on certain terms related its awards are also underway.
The BFT-1 programme is a battle-command real-time situational awareness and control system that provides military commanders and forces with location information about friendly and hostile forces.
Image: A US soldier uses the joint capabilities release of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below/Blue Force Tracking during NIE 12.1 exercise in US Claire Schwerin, PEO C3T.
