Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a contract for an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration that will support the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) with tools to reduce costs and better manage the Defense Transportation System (DTS) during peacetime and wartime.

The contract, Agile Transportation for the 21st Century (AT21), was awarded through the Defense Information Systems Agency’s NexGen contract vehicle to Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector. The contract is valued at $9.6 million the first year and has the potential to grow to $25 million over three years.

“Northrop Grumman IT’s approach will enable USTRANSCOM to optimize and control processes, collaborate with customers, and visualize the end-to-end transportation network,” said Kent Schneider, president, Defense Enterprise Solutions.

“Our CMMI Level 5 rating, a testament to the company’s unique software development expertise, contributed to our success. Northrop Grumman IT’s technical solution provides leading commercial-off-the-shelf products that are integral to this technology demonstration and will allow the fostering of advanced, synergistic technologies for transportation and sustainment processes, with a systems perspective which is crucial to supporting network centric battlefield operations.”

As part of the AT21 contract, Northrop Grumman IT will develop capabilities to better manage the DTS in peacetime, as well as during crisis, by improving mode selection and optimization to better manage limited assets, improve technology to capture transportation requirements from multiple sources, including the global command and control system.

The company will also seek to reduce the cost of DTS operations to combatant commanders and services by applying commercial best practices where appropriate.

Through this contract, Northrop Grumman IT will enable USTRANSCOM to improve quality of service to Joint Force and component customers by providing a collaborative environment for sharing requirements and demand/fill status for force projection and Title 10 movements.

“We will enable USTRANSCOM to efficiently and effectively manage transportation assets and resources to support the war fighting commander in parallel and continuous operations rather than following the linear approach of today’s planning and execution cycles,” Schneider added.

Work on the program will be performed at a Northrop Grumman IT facility in O’Fallon, Ill., near Scott Air Force Base. Other members of the Northrop Grumman IT team include Accenture, Alexandria, Va.; Asynchrony Solutions, Inc., St. Louis, Mo.; AT&T Government Solutions, Vienna, Va.; Dynamics Research Corporation, Andover, Mass.; EDSI, Yorba Linda, Calif.; Manugistics, Rockville, Md.; and Yantra Corporation, Tewksbury, Mass.