Probably no big, fat contracts for next-generation of border technology.

• Position: Homeland Security News

* Customs and Border Protection is gearing up to begin its third attempt to deploy technology on the Southwest border.

Major contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and BAE Systems are among those who have said they are interested in competing for contracts.

But signs coming from the agency indicate that there may not be one large multi-year award similar to what the incumbent Boeing won in 2005.

"There is no anticipation of an SBInet II," said Lee Hall, director of homeland security solutions at Lockheed Martin. That was his assessment after attending a CBP industry day in April that outlined plans for the next-generation of border technology.

The Secure Border Initiative's technology piece, SBInet, kicked off in 2005. Boeing initially won a $20 million contract to set up a 17-mile demonstration project in southern Arizona. That pilot project never lived up to expectations, but the company went on to receive multiple awards worth more than $1 billion over the next five years to place more sensors along the border. It continues to receive funding to maintain some of the systems

"We don't expect to see another big [request for proposals]," Hall told National Defense. "It's going to be multiple procurements over an extended period."

One reason is that there are currently no plans to create a network of sensors, cameras, communication backbone and a common operating picture that would require one contractor to integrate it all. No giant "system of systems" means there is no need for a so-called "lead system integrator" to tie them all together.

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That was the original vision of SBInet Border Patrol agents in their vehicles would receive direct feeds from stationary cameras on a dashboard view screen that would help them track down illegal migrants or drug smugglers.

Along with cameras and sensors that didn't work well, and delays in creating the common operating picture, CBP officials discovered late in the game that it would be difficult and costly to build a communication architecture that would support live streaming videos. And commercial providers were not interested in supplying such a network in remote, sparsely populated areas. The Government Accountability Office also found that Border Patrol agents were not consulted on whether it was...