HomelandDefenseStocks.com Reports US-VISIT Contracts Move Forward, Despite Politics; Accenture, Raytheon, the Titan Corp., SRA International & Markland Technologies Benefit
Wednesday June 23, 2:35 pm ET
POINT ROBERTS, WA and ALEXANDRIA, VA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 23, 2004 -- www.HomelandDefenseStocks.com, (HDS), an investor news portal for the Homeland Defense and Security Sector, is pleased to report on developments on the US-VISIT program, an entry/exit system tracking foreigners, that could potentially be a $10 billion contract to Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd. The Smart Border Alliance team consists of up to thirty-one companies including Raytheon, the Titan Corp., SRA International & Markland Technologies. HDS features the exclusive article "US-VISIT Contracts move forward, despite politics" for investors following the sector. (See Below)
HDS does not make recommendations, but offers a unique, free information portal to investors to research news, articles, interviews and a growing list of participating public companies.
HDS Featured Profiled Companies:
Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTC BB:AEMD.OB - News) Biodefense www.AethlonMedical.com - Viral filtration devices that rapidly reduce the presence of infectious disease and toxins in the body.
Markland Technologies, Inc. (OTC BB:MRKL.OB - News) www.marklandtech.com - Has three distinct business segments, which address the needs of the Homeland Security marketplace: Chemical Detectors, Border Security and Advanced Technologies.
MDM Group, Inc. (Other OTC:MDDM.PK - News) Non Lethal Weapons for Law Enforcement, Military and Anti-Terrorism http://www.mdmgroupinc.com/frames.html
Roaming Messenger, Inc. (OTC BB:RMSG.OB - News) Wireless solution for delivering real-time actionable information with applications in homeland security www.roamingmessenger.com
US-VISIT Contracts move forward, despite politics
Allen Gibson http://www.HomelandDefenseStocks.com
June 23, 2004
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The next HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS BILL includes $32.0 billion for operations and activities of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in fiscal year 2005, an increase of $2.8 billion (9.4 percent) above the fiscal year 2004 enacted levels.
Whenever there is this much money on the table, you can expect some jockeying for position, both from the politicians and from the companies competing for the business. That has certainly been the case so far on the contracts for the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, which saw Lockheed Martin and Computer Sciences Corp. lose out on managing the program to Accenture, who was awarded a contract, which could be worth up to $10 billion over the next decade. The appropriations bill includes $828 million to modernize border, customs, and immigration information technology, with $340 million for the US-VISIT program.
That contract looked to be in jeopardy, however, just a week ago, when Democrat House Appropriations Committee members tried to add an amendment to the funding legislation that would have refused the granting of the contract to Bermuda-based Accenture because of its offshore ownership. According to Accenture spokesman James McAvoy, that amendment has been defeated, and the bill is now headed to the Senate for its approval. Another amendment, however, could still cause problems down the road for Accenture and other companies, if a 'grandfather' clause is removed that allowed non-US based companies to continue bidding on federal defense contracts if they had been doing so before the 2002 Homeland Defense Act was passed.
"We are very excited about the potential value of this award to Markland shareholders," said Markland (OTC BB:MRKL.OB - News) President, Ken Ducey. "We look forward to utilizing Markland's experience to expand and enhance the technologies at the borders. The combination of Markland's experience and personnel the other Smart Border Alliance Team members will provide for exciting possibilities to make our borders more secure, and make our country safer. There is a tremendous amount that must be completed, and this is important first step to this multi-year task."
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