KBR Inc. (KBR) shares climbed Monday after the company announced it landed a Technical Support Services Contract from the U.S. Geological Survey worth up to $350 million. It's the kind of deal that shows how government agencies are leaning into next-generation tech to handle the mountains of data coming from space.
What KBR Will Actually Do
The contract puts KBR in charge of providing advanced technical solutions for USGS's Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Think of EROS as the brain center for processing satellite imagery and Earth observation data that scientists, disaster responders, and resource managers rely on.
More importantly, this contract positions KBR to support USGS as it prepares for Landsat Next, an ambitious three-satellite constellation scheduled to launch in 2030. That's a big deal because Landsat has been documenting Earth's surface changes since 1972, and the next generation promises even better resolution and capabilities.
Under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract structure, KBR will deploy cloud-native architectures, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, advanced software systems, and enterprise IT solutions to modernize USGS's operations. The work includes building intelligent data analytics platforms, developing algorithms, securing IT infrastructure, and ensuring long-term preservation of decades worth of global Earth-observation records.
Mark Kavanaugh, KBR's President of Defense, Intel, and Space, put it this way: "By integrating AI, cloud-native systems and next-generation engineering, we're helping enable USGS to deliver faster, smarter and more resilient solutions to address natural resource management and disaster response."
Recent Contract Wins
This USGS contract isn't KBR's only big government win lately. Last month, the company secured a position on a multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with the U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command. That one has a potential ceiling of $20 billion when you include the five-year option period.
KBR shares were trading up 3.68% at $42.00 in Monday's premarket session following the announcement.