SANTA MONICA—The Santa Monica based non-profit organization RAND Corporation announced on Tuesday, October 4 that it was awarded a five-year contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that is worth nearly $500 million. The Department of Homeland Security selected the RAND Corp. to operate the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center.
The organization will be working in bolstering DHS efforts to “prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage U.S. borders, enforce and administer immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace and strengthen national preparedness and resiliency.”
“RAND is honored and excited to be selected by DHS to assist with its important work,” said RAND President Michael D. Rich. “The new center provides another opportunity for RAND to serve the public and apply its expertise on issues such as terrorism, border security and other topics critical to protecting the U.S. homeland.”
The director of the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) will be Terrence K. Kelly. The HSOAC is also known as a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). Kelly is a senior operations researcher at the RAND Corporation. Henry H. Willis who oversees RAND’s ongoing portfolio of homeland security research will serve as associate director. The center will focus on seven areas that include acquisition studies, homeland security threat and opportunity studies, organizational studies, regulatory doctrine and policy studies, operational studies, research and development studies, and innovation and technology acceleration.
FFRDCs are sponsored by government agencies and they assist those agencies with research and development, study and analysis, systems engineering and integration. FFRDCs make significant contributions to solving key national challenges. RAND operates four federally funded research and development centers and contributes to a fifth.
