DOD plans to award Lockheed Martin $4.1B non-competitive contract to continue support of missile defense system

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced this week it will award a $4.1 billion follow-on contract directly to incumbent Lockheed Martin Rotary Mission Systems to continue support of the key system the agency uses to integrate missile defense technologies.

The 10-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract will extend Lockheed’s work on the Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) program, which MDA describes as the “vital” linchpin integrating and synchronizing the sensors and weapons systems that comprise the U.S. missile defense system.

According to MDA, C2BMC “enables the U.S. president, secretary of defense and combatant commanders at strategic, regional and operational levels to systematically plan ballistic missile defense operations, to collectively see the battle develop, and to dynamically manage designated networked sensors and weapons systems to achieve global and regional mission objectives.”

In a contracting announcement, the agency said it will award the contract to Lockheed on a sole-source basis because it is the only contractor with the technical knowledge of the system requirements to perform the follow-on work.

“No other source has access to the required technical data and resident expertise to perform the described effort,” the announcement says. “This expertise cannot be attained by any other contractor within the anticipated period of performance without incurring an unacceptable delay and risk to the overall program in fulfilling these agency requirements and mission and a substantial duplication of costs.”

Lockheed will be asked to perform “continuous development, integration, system level testing, sustainment, cybersecurity, and operations/maintenance of the C2BMC System,” as well as “Increment 9 risk reduction in order to keep pace with warfighter requirements in response to emerging threats.”

At the completion of this contract — which has a five-year base and an option to extend for another five years — MDA says it will explore a competitive procurement follow-on.

The Missile Defense Agency has been exploring ways next-generation, non-kinetic technologies like electronic warfare, directed energy and cybersecurity can be incorporated into its defense system to address emerging threats.

Late last year, the agency awarded a $500 million experimental contract to artificial intelligence contractor C3 AI to accelerate the adoption and scaling of the technology for missile defense applications.