ST. LOUIS, Mo., – NASA has awarded Boeing [NYSE:BA] a near
perfect performance rating and award fee for the final nine months of the
Payload Ground Operations Contract, or PGOC, performed at Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.

NASA Systems, a business unit of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, has held
the contract for more than 15 years and prepared more than 2 million pounds
of payloads for flight, including scientific experiments, spacecraft and
supplies that were flown on space shuttle and expendable launch vehicle
missions. The final segment, a cost-plus-award-fee extension through Sept.
30, 2002, was valued at $25.3 million. The total contract value is almost $2
billion, and currently employs almost 900 people in the Kennedy Space Center
area.

“Our team should feel really proud. This is an endorsement of our hard work,
and shows we’re doing an outstanding job for the customer,” said John Elbon,
Boeing vice president for the PGOC program.

The award fee, based on overall performance with an emphasis on cost and
safety, was the highest ever awarded to the payload processing team under
the PGOC program.

“In partnership with NASA, we have significantly reduced costs by 30% and
still maintained a high level of performance and a focus on safety,” Elbon
said.

Boeing was recently awarded the successor Checkout, Assembly & Payload
Processing Services contract, or CAPPS. The new contract continues
responsibility for ground support, testing, integration, and de-integration
of space shuttle and expendable launch vehicle payloads, including flight
elements of the International Space Station; operation and maintenance of
associated facilities and ground systems; and support of the government’s
top priorities safety, mission success, and payload-developer/customer
satisfaction.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of
the world’s largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St.
Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $23 billion business. It
provides systems solutions to its global military, government and commercial
customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance; the world’s largest military aircraft manufacturer; the
world’s largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based
communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense;
NASA’s largest contractor; and a global leader in launch services.