Under the contract, SAIC will provide hydrographic surveying services for NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. It will collect, process, analyze, and report sonar, tidal, water level, and other data to enable nautical charts to be updated.

The work will be done in the navigable waters of Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and other US waters including the east coast, Pacific, and the Great Lakes. It follows a similar three-year $9m contract awarded by NOAA to SAIC in 2000 to provide hydrographic survey services in coastal waters covering the region from Virginia to Maine.

John Fratamico, senior vice president and business unit general manager at SAIC, said: SAIC has provided a broad range of coastal hydrographic survey services to NOAA since 1994 and we look forward to continuing this long-term working relationship.

Earlier in October 2008, SAIC won a contract with Air Force Special Operations Command to provide operations and maintenance support to Dragon Operations Centers at Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), and Nellis AFB. Under the contract, SAIC will also provide support to the 3d Special Operations Squadron at Creech Air Force Base and the associated Air Force Reserve unit’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle operations.