U.S. NAVY UPGRADES HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING CENTER POWERED EXCLUSIVELY BY SGI GRAPHICS SYSTEMS.

SGI (NYSE: SGI) today announced that the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD), Patuxent River, Md., has built on the already extensive capabilities of its high-performance computing center with the addition of two SGI(TM) Onyx(R) 3000 series visualization systems.

Among the many applications for the new SGI(TM) Onyx(R) 3400 supercomputers, NAWC-AD's Air Combat Environment Test and Evaluation Facility (ACETEF) will use the machines to test and evaluate advanced next-generation U.S. military aircraft such as the F-18 E/F, Joint Strike Fighter and V-22.

NAWC-AD's high-performance computing (HPC) Distributed Center was funded under the Defense Department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). The multimillion-dollar upgrade includes two new 28-processor SGI Onyx 3400 machines with seven InfiniteReality3(TM) graphics pipes each, as well as upgrades to existing Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(R) machines, storage area networks and network upgrades.

has a similar protest from Qwest re FTS 2001. It is so easy to wait and do little and to get too comfortable with the current supplier. Years ago, I helped DMA with a new RFP to replace the incumbent. The new guy was faster, cheaper and more reliable and they were quite happy. But they really tried to avoid the re-compete.

9. Small Business Abuse- Bundling is rampant although illegal and GSA refused to amend FAR 8.4 to require one of the three quotes to be a small business. Nobody audits for 8.4 compliance and hence the bulk of schedule business goes to large firms with Dell in front with over $1 billion.

10. Past Performance- without an agency in charge and a centralized file it is a joke. What do you know about the IBM Argentina Bank deal or the fiasco with the police in New Zeland or the messes with other primes in Florida, Louisiana, USDA and Virginia? Without a better system IRS and the USMC know nothing about this huge automation failures and which prime is responsible.

11. Procurement Reform - it has spawned general lawlessness. For Example, DISA illegally amended one of their contracts to add software which was not even in the RFP and the AF bought $5 million worth. Everyone was happy except the poor taxpayer and the other software firms, which could not compete. Reform is excellent for 2% of the firms. The other 98% are prey. Is your firm a hawk or a cottontail?

12. Seat Management - I think this is a scam. The government can't do the job and is selling the agency to the prime. The prime has a 5-year contract but it will be 25 years since the prime will own the agency. If you want to see what that is like, look up the 1994 report by the EPA IG as to what happened to them. It is not pretty.

Editor's Note: The preceding opinion article was written by Terry Miller, associate editor and regular columnist for FCMR. He is also president of Government Sales Consultants Inc. of Sterling, Va., and a 35-year federal government procurement system veteran. Miller served with the General Services Administration as a computer equipment and procurement analyst for four years; eight years at the Federal Communications Commission as a computer and systems analyst and chief of computer operations; and as an Army systems specialist.