It seems that Northrup Grumman has held the Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to provided IT security services which includes administrative for the U.S. Department of State since Aug 2007.
Per their website:
MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) by the Department of State to provide security support services for the department's computer systems and networks.
Northrop Grumman is one of eight companies awarded a BPA for security assurance services. The master ceiling of the BPA is valued at $710 million, in the aggregate, for one base year and four one-year options for the eight awarded BPAs.
The meat of the contract is described here:
Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector and its team will provide a comprehensive range of security support including technical, engineering, management, operations, logistical and administrative services to improve the security systems and information resources of the State Department and its foreign affairs and business partners. The scope of cyber security and assurance services to be provided to the State Department include computer, communications, telecommunications, telephony, wireless, physical and logical monitoring and security systems, and other computer-managed or controlled systems or networks.
I worked in the Federal service for 15 years. Admin services for information mostly stored on the computer are usually done through Information Technology contracts. As it seems that Northrop holds the BPA it's a good bet they may be the umbrella contractor responsible for the two fired employees.
How these contracts work is that one company controls the purse strings nationally and then subcontracts these duties out to local subs - their "teammates"
Northrop Grumman teammates include CGI Federal, Fairfax, Va.; CNSI, Rockville, Md.; Data Systems Analysts, Trevose, Pa.; G&B Solutions, McLean, Va.; JIL IT, Triangle, Va.; Kahn & Hill, Bethesda, Md.; Network Security Systems Plus, LLC, Falls Church, Va.; MILVETS Systems Technology, Lanham, Md.; Patriot LLC, and SBI Technologies, Columbia, Md.; Technica Corp., Dulles, Va.; Veris Group, Vienna, Va.; and WINS, Greenbelt, Md.
Of course, this is going purely by searches and my knowledge of government processes so it goes without saying that I could be wrong.
If it is Northrop Grumman, that makes things very interesting as both McCain and Clinton have close ties to the company.
John McCain bragged about interfering in the awarding of a contract, preventing it from going to Boeing. That same contract was then awarded to Northrop Grumman:
That decision is sitting very well with the governor of Alabama, where Northrop Grumman is based. Republic Governor Bob Riley endorsed McCain a mere three days after the Air Force contract was announced. The EADS-Northrop tanker, based on the Airbus A330, will be built in Mobile, AL, where The Associated Press reports it will produce 2,000 new jobs, and support 25,000 jobs at suppliers nationwide.
Is it just a coincidence that Riley endorsed McCain so soon after that contract was awarded? Boeing supporters in Congress may be wondering and they are angry with McCain "for scuttling an earlier deal that would have let Boeing build the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers." AP reports that Boeing now will miss out on a deal that it says would have supported 44,000 new and existing jobs at the company and suppliers in 40 states.
On the other hand, Senator Clinton has an interesting history with Northrop Grumman as well and has received extensive donations from the company:
The defense industry this year abandoned its decade-long commitment to the Republican Party, funneling the lion share of its contributions to Democratic presidential candidates, especially to Hillary Clinton who far out-paced all her competitors.
An examination of contributions of $500 or more, using the Huffington Post’s Fundrace website, shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics — gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to Republicans.
Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.), who raised $32,000.
If Northrop Grumman is the contractor (and quite frankly, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed make Haliburton look like amateurs when you compare how many government contracts they have) it's even more intriguing that Hillary and McCain seem to be so supportive of each other at this time.
It makes one wonder how far that support really goes.