Gray Hawk Systems Inc. of Alexandria won a five-year, $3.7 million contract from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to host and manage the agency's Web site, MoneyFactory.com.
The company will provide Web hosting and applications management services to the bureau and integrate some of the best practices used on commercial sites, said Cal Shintani, Gray Hawk's vice president of business development.
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The bureau uses the Web site to inform the public about its activities as well to sell items to the public, Shintani said. Items for sale on the site include sheets of uncut currency, commemorative certificates, note cards and copies of the Great Seal of the United States.
"We need the site for public education campaigns when we introduce new currency and as a public sales Web site," said Robert Scherer, deputy associate director for information technology at the bureau. But the site also provides specialized information such as how contractors can do business with the agency.
"That was part of the challenge," Shintani said. "It is both a retail site and an informational site."
Among the services that Gray Hawk will bring as the Web host is the ability to track what features are being clicked on and adjust the site accordingly, he said. If the webmaster notices a particular item is getting a lot of traffic it can be moved to a more prominent position on the site.
The win also brings Gray Hawk into a new business area, Shintani said. While the company helps run Web sites for other government agencies, this is the first contract it has won to provide Web hosting services. "We've been providing people to run Web sites, but we haven't taken on the outsourcing part before," Shintani said.
Gray Hawk had about $74 million in 2004 revenue, he said. Customers include the Defense and Homeland Security departments as well as intelligence agencies.
"About half our revenue comes from the anti-terrorism area," he said.
Nick Wakeman is senior editor of Washington Technology. For more details on this and other technology contracts, go to www.washingtontechnology.com.
