General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, was awarded a contract for the Common Hardware Systems-4 (CHS-4) program from the US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The competitively awarded 5-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract has a maximum potential value of $3.7 billion if all options are exercised. The first delivery order issued under the contract is worth $5.3 million. General Dynamics received the first CHS contract in 1995.

CHS-4 provides a 'no-fee-for-use' rapid procurement path for US military and government organizations to receive radios, satellite communications and encryption equipment, computers and other products that are cost-competitive with the commercial market. The contract also contains a technology-insertion provision to ensure that the CHS-4 inventory includes the most-advanced commercially available products and a technical support and logistics provision that affords a wide range of services, from the rapid repair and replacement of equipment to the deployment of field service personnel to CHS-4 user locations worldwide.

"CHS-4 is a very flexible contract that purchasers from across the US military and other government organizations can use to acquire the latest commercial computing and communications technologies, ruggedized for their special requirements," said Mike DiBiase, vice president and general manager of Computing Technologies for General Dynamics C4 Systems. "Among other advantages, CHS-4 is the ideal vehicle to deliver on the Army's agile acquisition process for participants in future Network Integration Evaluation exercises, starting with 12.1 later this year."

Types of equipment available through the CHS-4 contract include the following:

-- Rugged and semi-rugged computers and ultra-thin client products
-- Computer peripherals
-- Routers and other gear related to network communications and management
-- Power subsystems and related equipment

Source: General Dynamics