The U.S. Dept. of Defense handed out $99.6 million in contracts to a trio of device makers, providing for radiology systems, patient monitoring and airborne bio-threat detection for a variety of military and civilian agencies.
Bedford, Mass.-based Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) landed a maximum $78.9 million contract extension, the 5th of 7 possible year-long options for radiology systems, subsystems and components.
GE Healthcare’s (NYSE:GE) Madison, Wisc.-based Datex Ohmeda division won a $19.8 million contract, the maximum allowed for the 5th year of its own 7-year contract for patient monitoring systems and services.
Both contracts will support the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies, according to DoD memos.
PositiveID (OTC:PSID) won a fixed-price $841,000 contract for its Microfluidic Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector (M-BAND) technology, which continuously analyzes air samples for biological threats as a defense against terrorist attacks. The contract will be paid out in 7 monthly installments, according to regulatory filings.
The M-BAND project tests the air for signs of airborne threats, such as viruses, bacteria or toxins. The technology was developed under contract with the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology directorate, according to a PositiveID press release.
The contract supports the DoD Joint U.S. Forces Korea Portal & Integrated Threat Recognition Program (JUPITR), which plans to evaluate M-BAND for ease of use, reliability, cost and other factors to determine whether the agency plans to move forward with the platform, according to an SEC filing.