Aquilent received a Blanket Purchase Agreement for up to $16M and 4 years to provide system development and business analysis support to the Department of Labor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LAUREL, MD, January 30, 2006– Aquilent, a leading provider of E-Government and IT consulting services for government clients announces the award of a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) at the Department of Labor (DOL) Information Technology Center (ITC) for systems development and business analysis support. The BPA has a ceiling value of $16 million and a four year period of performance.

Since 2001, Aquilent has worked with DOL to develop, integrate, and implement DOL's Electronic Procurement System (EPS). Deployed agency-wide, EPS is a web-based system to manage the end-to-end procurement and contracting needs of DOL employees. Aquilent has also worked with the DOL Budget Center to develop and implement an E-Budget pilot solution that supported the President's Management Agenda by automating the traditional budget submission cycle process, integrating budget and performance, and expanding e-Government initiatives via an electronic budget support system. We established a program management office to develop requirements, support the pilot and to assist with RFP development.

For the system development BPA, Aquilent will provide ITC agency-wide custom software development, strategic business planning, project management, enterprise architecture planning, application maintenance and support, security policy management, and software development lifecycle implementation. Aquilent will employ methodologies, tools, expertise, and software engineering and project management standards to identify alternatives for the ITC and assist in integrating best-value IT services, thereby fulfilling the ITC's vision to be a customer-centric, business investment oriented organization. Software engineering support will include .NET solutions in C#, Visual Basic, ASP.NET, XML, XSL and C++.

The systems supported through this BPA may include: Safety and Health Information Management System (SHIMS), Secretary's Information Management System (SIMS), Relocation Management System, Electronic Funds Transfer, and the Title VII Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Complaint Tracking System.  “Aquilent and the ITC have a proven track record of delivering results under the EPS's performance based contract,” stated David Fout, Aquilent's President and CEO. “We look forward to delivering the same level of quality and performance for other DOL projects through the partnership formed by this systems development BPA.”

Historically, DOL's Information Technology Center (ITC) has had multiple contracting firms performing this work under separate contracts. In an effort to increase efficiency and improve the level of support available to its internal customers, the ITC wanted to consolidate analysis, operation, maintenance, and development work under a single contract and provider. For the Systems Development contract, Aquilent will serve as the prime contractor and team with two subcontractors, NetStar-1, an infrastructure and network support contractor, and the Ambit Group, a service-disabled veteran owned small business specializing in portfolio management and change management.

About Aquilent

Aquilent is an award-winning, SEI CMMI Level 2-rated company with an over 25-year history of providing innovative information technology and web-based services to federal agencies.  Aquilent improves the quality and efficiency of service to citizens, employees, and businesses through a premiere suite of solutions and services, including enterprise acquisition and finance solutions, public and private web presence, regulatory management solutions, and information management and access systems. Additional information about Aquilent is available at www.aquilent.com

About NetStar

NetStar-1 is a small business focused on the development, delivery and support of business-critical technology solutions. Their technical expertise comes from more than 20 years in supporting IT applications and mission-critical environments. NetStar-1 engineers help clients maximize their IT investment through the optimization of resources already in place, in addition to offering comprehensive application development expertise with the latest versions of products in the Microsoft suite.

About Ambit Group

Ambit Group (formerly called PS4C Partners LLC) is a woman-owned, service-disabled, veteran-owned small business that helps clients define and control their sphere of influence. Their service delivery model is built around experienced consultants leading transformational change in government. Ambit specializes in: (1) Vision and Strategy Development, (2) Governance Design and Implementation Support, and (3) Marketing, Communications, and Change Management.

Contact

Peter Fogelsanger
Aquilent, Inc.
301.939.1706
peter.fogelsanger@aquilent.com