BearingPoint Inc. won a $99 million contract from the Air Force to support its Smart Operations 21 program, the Defense Department announced.

Under the contract, BearingPoint of McLean, Va., will provide advisory and assistance services for the program.

The Air Force’s Smart Ops program charter incorporates both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools. These tools were developed chiefly in the private sector to save time and money, reduce waste and improve quality.

In the lean approach, a process is reworked to eliminate unnecessary steps that add no value or by combining processes to save time and gain efficiencies.

Six Sigma deals primarily with control and tolerances. The parameters of the process are reviewed and reassessed to determine a customer’s real needs, and then to make sound decisions about when it is worthwhile to spend more money to achieve higher levels of perfection.

The Headquarters Air Force District of Washington awarded the contract.

BearingPoint ranks No. 23 on Washington Technology’s 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors. The 2007 Top 100 list is due out May 14.