BCO News

This news page will keep you up to date with the latest BCO news articles and related topics. 

• BCO Quality System has been re-certified to the ISO 9001:2000 Standard after a successful assessment this year.  This action re-affirms the commitment by BCO to provide customers with high quality results in a timely and cost effective manner.
• BCO is a member of the National Instruments Alliance Program, with technical specialization in LabView, LabWindows, PXI, GPIB and instrument controls.
• Congratulations to Jim Quinn and Bruce Warren who have qualified as a Certified LabVIEW Associate Developers.

  We announced previously that Sergiu Musteata attained the Certified LabView Developer status, which is a more intensive certification process. We are very proud of both Jim, Bruce, and Serge!

• BCO is now a National Instruments Certified Alliance Partner
• BCO Financial Services Contract Closeout Group has completed the first phase of contract closeout activity for a large mid-Atlantic region based customer.  Our performance exceeded customer and DCAA/DCMA expectations, coming in under budget and well within the Government year-end time line.
  We look forward to receiving the second wave of contracts as we assist our customers in moving their contract close-out backlogs "off the back burner."  See our Financial Services web page.
• Several Transmitter Control Subsystems (TCS) were delivered to Megapulse Inc. for upgrade of US Coast Guard Loran Transmitter sites.  A separate control system upgrade was installed at the Nii Jima, Japan site. The upgrade program continues.
• Delivery of Training Program for Loran Transmitter system using technical manual material distributed in Web-browser format.
• Delivery of rugged Automated Gyro Control System for US Navy CASS ATE, under subcontract to Xanalog.
• Delivery of test system using LabView and Visual Basic to support a factory contract manufacturing installation.
• Conversion of a family of electrical equipment test products to LabVIEW for a commercial manufacturer.
• Development of LabVIEW software for the user console of a medical treatment delivery system.
• Development of LabVIEW software for the user interface and control of a chemical processing system.

   What do the letters "BCO" mean?
BCO-inc. was founded by a group formerly employed at the RCA facility in Burlington MA, which later merged into GE Aerospace and then Martin Marietta.  In 1994, the Burlington facility was closed and moved to Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin, in Florida.  The final activity at the Burlington facility was known as the "Burlington Center Operations", or BCO.  The BCO-Inc. founders retained that name and formed an independent corporation at our present location, 799 Turnpike Road in Billerica, MA. Our initial workload was largely a spin-off from unfinished ATE hardware and software tasks resulting from the Burlington shut down.  Since that meager beginning, our staff, the products, and the customer clientele has flourished.  Today we just go by the title BCO-Inc.  To our customers and our staff, it means more every day!
 

   What is LORAN and why is it being upgraded?  Isn't Loran obsolete because of GPS?

Loran is a navigational guidance system used by ships at sea or inland waterways, aircraft, and even land-based vehicles such as trucks.  The Loran transmitters are located around the nation as well as around the globe, in groups of stations that form Loran "Chains".  Each Transmitter station emits a sequence of shaped "Pulses", so that Loran Receivers can establish multiple reference transmitters and determine global position coordinates by the pulse time differences (triangulation).

The Loran system is not obsolete, but serves as a complementary backup for the GPS satellite positioning system.  There is a large investment in Loran receiving equipment and Loran will be viable for years.

The Coast Guard has been upgrading its transmitter sites with newer, solid state equipment for some time.  The current upgrade project, called Loran C Transmitter Accufix 7500, includes the BCO-Inc Transmitter Control Subsystem (TCS) which provides state of the art control and monitoring for the Loran pulses, complete redundancy, and protection against single-point-failure. A major objective of the update is the ability to operate Loran Transmitter sites from a remote location, thereby eliminating the current around-the-clock need for on-site operators.

Megapulse Inc installed the original Loran Transmitter stations and is the prime contractor for Loran Station upgrades

   What is Contract Closeout and why is that a specialty?
There is general belief that a contract is completed when final delivery is made of the required goods and services and the Government has made acceptance and final payment to the contract.  However, in the administrative contracting arena, a contract is not complete and ready for closeout  until the contractor complies with all the terms of the contract.  This includes those administrative actions that are contractually required; i.e. financial, property, security, patents and royalties.

Closeout is completed when all administrative actions have been satisfied, all disputes settled, and final payment has been made.  The process can be simple or complex depending on the contract type.  Contract closeout requires coordination and agreement between the contractor and government Contracts, Finance, Program and Auditing offices.

BCO-Inc. developed experience and skills in financial consultation and contract closeout specialization under subcontract to major defense industry companies following the business spin-off from its Burlington Center Operations genesis.  Our expertise stems from knowledge of how major contracts are set up, how accounting practices are traditionally executed, and how outstanding commitments and obligations can be satisfied even after years of corporate and personnel turn-over.  Our business brings completed contracts to satisfactory closure, frequently with bonus savings and unexpected returns for the customer.

Press/Public Relations Contacts:
799 Middlesex Turnpike
Billerica, MA  01821
Phone: (978) 663-2525
Fax:      (978) 670-2939