CSC has announced today that it has won a high-performance computing outsourcing deal with US government body, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NOAA is a scientific agency whose mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet the US's economic, social and environmental needs.

The deal between NOAA and CSC takes the form of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, or IDIQ, contract - a contract between a federal government agency and a contractor for the indefinite delivery of an indefinite quantity of services.

Under the terms of the contract, task orders will be funded to design and implement a new high-performance computing system to support NOAA’s environmental modeling program. This will allow NOAA to improve the accuracy of global and regional climate models and advance weather forecasting capabilities critical to the protection of life and property.

The IDIQ contract has a four-year base period, one four-year option and one one-year transition option, bringing the estimated contract value to $317 million if all options are exercised. The first year will be funded at $49.3 million by NOAA, using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“We are proud to work with NOAA in helping the nation better understand how the Earth's climate is changing, which will aid in the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies,” said Mike Gaffney, president of CSC's Civil and Health Services Group.

“CSC is confident that, with the new high-performance computing facility, NOAA will be able to produce more accurate and agile models and share computing resources across the agency and its research partners.”