Global Information Grid - Bandwidth Expansion The Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion ( GIG - BE ) Program was a major United States Department of Defense ( DOD ) net - centric transformational initiative executed by DISA . GIG - BE created a ubiquitous " bandwidth - available " environment to improve national security intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance , information assurance , as well as command and control . Through GIG - BE , DISA leveraged DOD ' s existing end - to - end information transport capabilities , significantly expanding capacity and reliability to select Joint Staff - approved locations worldwide . GIG - BE achieved Full Operational Capability ( FOC ) on Dec . 20 , 2005 . Scope . This program provided increased bandwidth and diverse physical access to approximately 87 critical sites in the continental United States ( CONUS ) , US Pacific Command ( PACOM ) and US European Command ( EUCOM ) . These locations are interconnected via an expanded GIG core . Capabilities and Services . GIG - BE provides a secure , robust , optical terrestrial network that delivers very high - speed classified and unclassified Internet Protocol ( IP ) services to key operating locations worldwide . The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration ' s ( ASD / NII ) vision is a " color to every base , " physically diverse network access , optical mesh upgrades for the backbone network , and regional / MAN upgrades , where needed . " A color to every base " implies that every site has an OC - 192 ( 10 gigabits per second ) of usable IP dedicated to that site . Implementation . After extensive component integration and operational testing , implementation began in the middle of the 2004 fiscal year and extended through calendar year 2005 . The initial implementation concentrated on six sites used during the proof of Initial Operational Capability ( IOC ) , achieved on September 30 , 2004 . The GIG - BE Program Office conducted detailed site surveys at all of the approximately 87 Joint Staff - approved locations and parallel implementation in CONUS and overseas . The GIG - BE Program Office completed the Final Operational Test and Evaluation ( FOT & E ) at 54 operational sites on October 7 , 2005 . On December 20 , 2005 , the GIG - BE program achieved the milestone of Full Operational Capability . Contract . GIG - BE was awarded to SAIC in 2001 for $ 877 million . This contract was for the development , instantiation , and maintenance of the GIG - BE network . SAIC instantly divided the equipment and tasks into subcontracts . These subcontracts are as follows : Congressional critic . Representatives Marty Meehan ( D - Mass ) and Jim Saxton ( R - NJ ) expressed concern in the selection process for a contractor to lead the GIG - BE effort . They say it was handled " irresponsibly . " The reason for this as expressed by Meehan ' s spokesperson Kimberly Abbott is the " whole bidding process wasn ' t as fair and open as it could have been " , because a contractor and not the government led the decision process . SAIC won the contract who eventually handed a large subset of the engineering to By Light . Meehan did stress that he is not questioning the competence of the winners . These two congressman delivered a letter to the DoD regarding the contract but the issue was slowly forgotten .