US State Dept to spend up to 237 million dollars to revamp e-mail system

WASHINGTON (AFP) Dec 11, 2003
The US State Department on Thursday awarded an up to 237-million-dollar contract to aerospace and technology giant Northrup Grumman to overhaul its e-mail and instant messaging systems, the company said.

The contract is part of Secretary of State Colin Powell's ambitious plans to bring US diplomacy into the electronic age and end its reliance on outmoded methods of communicating with embassies, consulates and other missions abroad.

Under the terms of the contract, worth three million dollars initially and up to 237 million over 10 years if all options are exercised, Northrup Grumman will design and create SMART, the State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset.

SMART "will replace the department's multiple fragmented messaging systems and significantly improve the ability of employees to find and access all information necessary for analyzing foreign policy issues," the firm said in a statement.

Approximately 3,000 diplomats in the United States and selected overseas posts will be hooked into the new system in June 2004, according to Northrup Grumman.

By the end of 2005, SMART will be available to some 46,500 users at State Department headquarters in Washington and at the United States' 260 overseas diplomatic missions, it said.

SPACE.WIRE