Army awards $499M geospatial tech development contract

The Army has finalized its award of a five-year, $499 million contract vehicle for research-and-development work focused on advancing geospatial technology systems and deploying them to mission operators.

All eight companies that submitted bids were chosen for this fourth iteration of the GRIDS program – short for Geospatial Research, Integration, Development and Support IV.

The Pentagon’s Monday contracts digest lists these awardees:

• General Dynamics’ IT services unit (incumbent)
• Leidos (incumbent)
• Royce Geospatial Consultants
• OM Group
• Reinventing Geospatial (incumbent and small business)
• Research Innovations (incumbent and small business)
• Solis Applied Science (small business)
• Strategic Alliance Consulting (small business)

GRIDS IV is structured to have all companies in a single pool as opposed to the current GRIDS III vehicle, which has one unrestricted track and a second reserved for small businesses.

GDIT can claim some incumbency through General Dynamics One Source, an internal joint venture comprising the IT services and mission systems hardware units.

The Army awarded GRIDS III’s unrestricted track to GD One Source and Leidos in 2018 and has obligated $252 million in order volume against that portion of the vehicle, according to GovTribe data.

Research Innovations Inc. and Reinventing Geospatial are holdovers from GRIDS III’s small business track that was awarded in 2019 and seen $25 million in orders flow through it, also according to GovTribe.

Solicitation documents released in January 2024 outline the work areas as including:

• Collection, processing, analysis, and distribution of geospatial data
• Production and exploitation of geospatial intelligence
• Development and enforcement of geospatial standards
• Systems engineering and integration for geospatial solutions
• R&D in emerging geospatial technologies
• Training and education in geospatial disciplines
• Program management and operational support