FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) -- The super-secret National Security Agency (NSA) plans to turn management of most of its non-classified information technology over to a private contractor.
NSA officials said the move, announced Tuesday, could save the government $1 billion over 10 years, while allowing for faster modernization of the agency's computers and telecommunication systems.
The contract would not involve the supercomputers, satellites and ground stations around the world that the NSA uses to monitor communications and eavesdrop on foreign powers.
``It narrows our front and allows us to focus the energies of the agency on the things that only the agency can do,'' said Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, NSA director.
The plan could be worth up to $5 billion to the winning bidder over 10 years, The Washington Post and The Sun of Baltimore said.
Richard C. Mike Lewin, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said three consortiums led by major U.S. corporations are planning to submit bids. The contract is scheduled to be awarded in April 2001.
The companies leading those consortiums are: OAO Technology Solutions Inc., Computer Sciences Corp. and a partnership between AT&T and IBM, Lewin said.
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