(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The US Army named Lucent Technologies as prime contractor on a multibillion-dollar communications modernization project that might need to be handled by an independent subsidiary once Lucent merges with Alcatel of France.
There are ten prime contractors on the project, which is worth up to $4 billion in total.
The other prime contractors are AT&T, Avaya, Bechtel, Engineering and Professional Services, Federal Network Systems, General Dynamics, NextiraOne, Science Applications International, and Siemens.
Lucent will engineer, furnish and install a multi-vendor communications system at US Army installations around the world. The contract carries a five-year base with a five-year option.
Alcatel and Lucent announced plans to merge in April with a stock swap then worth $13.4 billion, but now valued at less than $11 billion due to a drop in Alcatel's share price.
The companies have sought to placate US and French government security concerns by spinning off their sensitive military technologies to independently supervised subsidiaries. However, it was unclear whether the new Army contract would need to be handled by that subsidiary.
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