Defense agencies readying for major awards These large contract vehicles provide opportunities for both large and small businesses. For many contractors, it makes sense to consider teaming relationships; a place on one of these behemoths could provide vendors with exposure to new purchasing departments. Here is a look at the three: Army The service's Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 3 Services contract vehicle is expected to cover a wide range of work for Army infrastructure worldwide. The contract also includes command, control, communications, computers and information management requirements. ITES 3S, as it's known, will have an unrestricted competition. Given its predecessor contract's duration of three base years with three two-year options, ITES 3S contracts may run for up to nine years. The total effort is valued at $25 billion, and Deltek expects the solicitation's release in March. Air Force The Contract Augmentation Program IV contract will continue to provide the Air Force with civil engineering and services support for noncombat overseas operations. AFCAP IV will be an unrestricted competition. Given its predecessor contract's duration of one base year with nine one-year options, AFCAP IV contracts may run for up to 10 years. The Air Force has not shared the ceiling of the new program, but the predecessor initiative has a ceiling value of $10 billion. So far, the contractors on the predecessor vehicle - Washington Group International, CH2M Hill, the joint venture of URS/Berger, Bechtel, Readiness Management Support and DynCorp International - have received nearly $2 billion. The solicitation is expected in January. Defense Intelligence Agency The Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise II program provides worldwide information technology and technical support services to the Defense Intelligence Agency. These services include design, development, fielding and sustainment of global intelligence and command and control assets. The agency is still determining an acquisition strategy. The previous SITE competition resulted in 11 awards - six to large businesses and five to small businesses - with a total value of $6.6 billion. Contracts are anticipated to have a one-year base period with four one-year option periods. The total ceiling value for SITE II contracts will be $5 billion. A solicitation is expected in late fall. Ashley Bergander is research manager at Herndon-based Deltek, which conducts research on the government contracting market and can be found at www.deltek.com.