The Harris Corporation, Communications Systems Division, Omaha Operations, of Bellevue, Neb., has been selected for award of a $7.48 million contract for ground system engineering and depot support for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

The DMSP polar-orbiting satellites, in tandem with NOAA's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites provide the nation with near real-time meteorological and environmental data.

The contract includes a base period of 12 months, effective Feb. 1, 2000, and four 12-month priced options, to continue performance through the year 2005. The contract will be administered by the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, Integrated Program Office in Silver Spring, Md.

"This contract is one more positive step toward reducing taxpayer costs and providing the nation with ever-improving weather forecasts, " said John Cunningham, NPOESS program director. The contract is in agreement with the National Performance Review – "reinventing government" – initiative aimed at making government less costly, more efficient, and more responsive to public needs. The operational convergence of the nation's military and civilian environmental satellite programs, into a single, national system will satisfy both civil and national security requirements for space-based remote sensing environmental data. The full realization of the NPOESS polar satellite convergence is projected to save the taxpayers about $1.8 billion over the next decade.

The 1994 Presidential Decision Directive that established the converged program charged NOAA with overall responsibility for the converged system, as well as satellite operations and interaction with the civil and international user communities. The Department of Defense has the lead agency responsibility for major system acquisition, including launch support. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has primary responsibility for facilitating the development and incorporation of new cost-effective technologies into the converged system. Representatives from all three agencies participated in the source selection, which was held in Silver Spring, Md.