WASHINGTON — Sigmatech, a professional services firm headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, has won a five-year $74 million contract to provide expert support staff to the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, the company announced Feb. 12.
The office of about 70 people is run by Shawn Barnes, who serves as the principal space adviser to Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett and is also helping to coordinate the standup of the U.S. Space Force.
More than half of the staff are contractors working under a SETA contract, short for Systems, Engineering, and Technical Assistance. The contract for the past five years was held by LinQuest.
Sigmatech said it will provide “architecture and integration support for Air Force space systems and programs, including support to the Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force.”
The company was founded in 1986 as a systems engineering and technical assistance contractor to the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
To select a contractor for the space acquisition and integration office, the Air Force used a General Services Administration contracting vehicle known as OASIS (One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services) that the Pentagon and other agencies rely upon for professional support services.
According to an industry source, the space acquisition and integration support contract is somewhat unique because it requires deep expertise not just in space technologies and programs but also knowledge of how the Pentagon bureaucracy works. The office is viewed as a “brain trust for space” in the Pentagon, the source said.
