USAF To Dole Out $9 Billion On Beefed Up Network

The U.S. Air Force has announced contractors selected for its massive $9 billion IT Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) program.

The program will cover contracts for "information technology, networking, telephony and security, voice, video and data communications, commercial off-the-shelf products, system solutions and systems hardware and software," the Department of Defense said.

Due to its large size, contracts will be broken down into smaller contracts, said Juli Ballesteros, spokeswoman for Northrop Grumman Corp., one of the lead contractors.

"Companies will compete with each other through task orders," she said.

Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector will compete for task orders " individual subcontracts " in areas ranging from network engineering and software development to IT infrastructure modernization and integration. The Northrop unit will also bid for work on information storage and management as well as security and telephone services.