<FONT SIZE=2>The National Science Foundation has awarded $12 million to several research institutions to develop Internet infrastructure technologies that will be more resistant to failure and attack. The work will be split among the University of California at Berkeley, the International Computer Science Institute of Berkeley, Calif., New York University, Rice University of Houston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Since Unisys Corp. announced Aug. 19 that it won the $1 billion Information Technology Management Services contract to create the IT infrastructure for the Transportation Security Administration, the company has been inundated with proposals from vendors interested in slicing off their own piece of the pie.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Warfighter Information Network - Tactical</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Army Communications Electronics Command</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Value: </FONT><FONT SIZE=2>$6.6 billion</FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Awarded: </FONT><FONT SIZE=2>Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp. both won contracts Aug. 9 that will develop the architecture and start initial production of systems for testing. The Army will then pick between the two for full production.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Air Force wants information to flow seamlessly among its commanders and warfighters, whether it comes from a manned or unmanned aircraft, or even from space. To carry out this transformation, the Air Force in May formed the XI Command under Lt. Gen. Leslie Kenne. As part of her staff, Brig. Gen. Dan Goodrich is director of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance integration, or C4ISR integration.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>If integrators want to look at the future of network-centric procurement, a good starting point is the Joint Vision 2010 and Joint Vision 2020 documents, said Louis Ray, president and chief executive officer of Matcom International Corp., an IT and engineering services provider in Alexandria, Va., that does work in military tactical data links. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>"Decision makers aren't paid to be data collectors," said Douglas Barton, director of technology for the missions systems division of Lockheed Martin Corp. "If they have 10 minutes to make a decision, they shouldn't spend nine and a half minutes gathering data."</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>In July, MTC Technologies Corp. began work on a first-of-its-kind project that essentially will turn Air Force refueling aircraft into flying data routers.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>When Dave Nelson joined NASA in 1999 as deputy chief information officer for information technology security, he knew the agency needed to improve its network security. But rather than take a scattershot approach to fixing the space agency's Internet vulnerabilities, Nelson's staff developed a list of about 50 top vulnerabilities to target first.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>An expected high turnover among state governors following next month's elections could slow the pace of new technology projects, as newly elected executives devote their first year to developing strategies and programs that reflect their individual priorities.</FONT>
The company will provide commercial product evaluation and implementation services to assist the Small Business Administration in developing a disaster credit management system.
The inspector general of the Department of Transportation has issued a warning to Defense Department contractors to watch for fraudulent letters asking for confidential information. The warning came in response to two letters that Department of Transportation contractors received.
