[FedCom] FCC spooky contract

[bernies at netaxs.com]

When read between the lines, this obscure government news item is a  
peek into a spooky FCC contract for doomsday radio communications  
interoperability plans for an alphabet soup assortment and federal  
law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.

-Ed


http://www.gsnmagazine.com/article/20577/fcc_turns_again_arlan_van_doorn

FCC turns again to Arlan van Doorn
Fri, 2010-04-23 04:49 PM
By: Jacob Goodwin

The Federal Communications Commission has awarded a contract to a  
one-man consulting firm based in Northern Virginia to continue  
providing to the FCC?s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau  
homeland security consulting services and high-level ?subject matter  
expertise,? particularly in the areas of continuity of operations and  
continuity of government.

The award was made to Arlan K. Van Doorn, LLC, a sole proprietorship  
owned by Arlan van Doorn, a former official at the FCC who left the  
Commission in 2005 and won his initial consulting contract about a  
year later, Van Doorn told GSN in a phone conversation on April 23.

The ?contract award dollar amount? identified in the award notice  
posted on the www.fbo.gov Web site shows an eye-popping $650,000 for  
one year of consulting services, but van Doorn assured GSN that that  
figure was a mistake. ?I would have liked that amount,? he chuckled,  
?but there is a screw up somewhere.? Because the fixed-price contract  
envisions a one-year base contract plus four optional years, it is  
more likely the $650,000 amount refers to the full five-year period,  
van Doorn said.

GSN was unable to obtain a quick clarification from the FCC?s  
contracts and purchasing department.

Under the contract, van Doorn will provide consulting services,  
usually on a classified basis, related to the communications  
activities of several different federal agencies, federal law  
enforcement and intelligence organizations and the National  
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. ?The contractor shall provide expert  
consultant services regarding national and homeland security,  
emergency preparedness, and continuity of government functions,? said  
the FCC solicitation?s statement of work, ?including services that  
will assist FCC and its Federal partners in providing effective  
emergency communications and disaster relief response.?

van Dorn will perform the work out of his home in Vienna, VA.

van Doorn, who joined the FCC in 1965, served as Deputy Chief of the  
Compliance and Information Bureau, the U.S. Chairman of the Mixed  
Commission with Mexico, which resolves trans-border communications and  
interference problems, the Assistant Chief and Senior Advisor for  
National Defense and Public Safety, and in other positions.

  Fcc