CSC To Support Shuttle "Piggyback" FlightsCSC To Support Shuttle "Piggyback" Flights

NASA has handed Computer Sciences Corp. a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract that, among other things, gives the IT-services vendor responsibility for maintaining the two modified jumbo jets used to piggyback the space shuttle to launch sites.

Under the aviation-services deal, announced Wednesday, CSC's DynCorp Technical Services group will provide comprehensive maintenance and modification services for roughly 80% of the space agency's aircraft fleet, which includes two Boeing 747s modified to carry the shuttle. The deal is worth up to $228 million to CSC if NASA exercises all of its options.

CSC's DynCorp group will service aircraft based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Also Wednesday, CSC said it had won a contract extension to continue supporting emergency telecommunications systems for the federally operated National Communications System. The system is designed to give government personnel priority access to fixed-line and wireless communications channels in the event of a national emergency. The two-year deal, awarded through the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, contains three one-year extension options and is worth $81 million if all options are exercised.