SumTotal Systems, the largest provider of learning technologies and services, today announced that it has been included in a new $483 million contract awarded by the United States Army’s Distributed Learning, Education and Training Products (DLETP) program to support and maintain high quality training for all Army troops worldwide. Under the contract, SumTotal will join a team of product and service providers assembled by Karta Technologies, Inc., the largest privately-held defense contractor, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, to provide distance learning to troops to meet the constantly changing needs of the Army and the Nation while at war.

“Training is a key ingredient of combat readiness,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. and Karta COO Ken Guest, “Karta has put together a great team for the DLETP program and winning this contract gives us a great opportunity to support our Nation and its great soldiers.”

The DLETP contract makes the SumTotal Enterprise Suite — including TotalLMS, TotalLCMS, TotalVCS (virtual classroom) and other modules — as well as the ToolBook simulation and content authoring solution, available to the Army to drive a wide variety of solutions designed to get the right training to the right troops at the right time, regardless of their geographic locations.

“Because of SumTotal’s industry leadership and its significant visibility in agencies and training initiatives across the US Army, we saw the company as a central player in helping address the needs of the DLETP program,” said Guest. “For years, SumTotal has worked very closely with the Army and has developed its products and services with the Army’s unique needs specifically in mind. SumTotal’s expertise and forward-looking technology enables the Army to look at how it meets its learning and training challenges today, but also what it needs to do to meet learning and training challenges tomorrow.”

According to Guest, Karta will create a testing environment that mirrors the SumTotal testing environment currently in use at the Army Training Support Center (ATSC). The ATSC has deployed the SumTotal Enterprise Suite to test content and technology solutions before they are rolled out to troops. Karta will use a similar SumTotal environment as an additional layer of testing to ensure the smooth operation of courseware and training infrastructure before it is delivered to the Army.

“This is an especially challenging time for our armed services, as conflicts and other critical events arise around the globe that require educated, informed and careful response at all levels,” said R. Andrew Eckert. “Our partnership with Karta and the DLETP contract give SumTotal the opportunity to expand our work with the Army and to help improve security and safety for personnel overseas, at home and especially on the front lines. We look forward to supporting the DLETP program in its efforts to maintain troop readiness worldwide and to helping it determine the shape and direction of its learning infrastructure now and into the future.”