The U.S. Navy moved a step closer toward its goal of having a service-wide
intranet, operated entirely by the private sector. The project is
known as the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, or simply NMCI. The intranet
will act as an information portal or exchange, providing data and
video and voice communications for some 360,000 users. If successful,
it will consolidate many disparate computer networks into a single
information grid.
NMCI will be run by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Corporation,
of Plano, Texas, in what has been labeled the largest government
information technology contract to date. EDS received a five-year,
$6.9 billion contract—$4.1 billion initially, with an additional
three-year option—to meet security and quality-of-service
requirements, train Navy-Marine personnel and maintain and operate
the system infrastructure. Thus the Navy is buying a service, which
officials compared to buying a utility, such as electricity or water.
NMCI will replace the Navy’s existing shore-based command
data networks, officials said.
The Navy investigated more than 100 potential contractors in determining
who would best fit its needs, said officials.
The EDS-led contracting team—The Information Strike Force—includes
Raytheon Company, WorldCom and WAM!NET. In addition, 40 percent
of the work will be subcontracted to small businesses, said officials.
Consolidation
Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig called the NMCI “an immense
achievement,” for it will simplify some rather complex operations
by breaking down the old, stove-piped way of doing business and
combining data systems.
“NMCI will make information instantly accessible to all certified
users throughout the department,” said Danzig. “The
consolidation of scores of separately purchased and maintained systems
will yield valuable short-term gains in economy, efficiency and
security. Our decision to contract for guaranteed levels for service
from a private manager [EDS], transcends our often-cumbersome procurement
techniques and links us to the rapidly evolving private sector.
We have therefore found a mechanism for greatly increasing the speed
and flexibility with which this technology will be refreshed.
“But substantial as these benefits are, they are dwarfed
by implications of empowering instantaneous information access throughout
the whole Department of the Navy. A highly structured, stove-piped,
hierarchical organization has put itself on the path to being highly
flexible, intimately integrated and organized in flat networks.”
While Danzig believes the tides are turning [excuse the pun] as
information-sharing becomes a less-burdensome chore, he promotes
this network as an instrument of change.
“This ‘net’ is essential, but it only facilitates
change, in much the same way that telegraphs and telephones opened
opportunity, but were, themselves, means, not ends,” said
Danzig.
Some Defense Department officials expressed their anticipation
for, or went so far as to predict, the developments or changes that
may be triggered by this intranet.
“The Navy-Marine Corps Intranet will revolutionize the way
that we look at the process of sharing information,” said
Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon. “It gets the government
out of the business of owning and operating information technology
systems, and instead transfers that function to a fee-for-service
contract with private industry. The potential for increased efficiency,
standardization, interoperability and better business processes
is tremendous. ... From assistance to a surgeon desperately trying
to save a sailor’s life at sea, to the networking of intelligence
data, to better sharing of business-contract information, all will
be profoundly affected by this innovative approach.”
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark also praised the intranet
program as a vehicle for progress:
“In the end, I truly believe that the product that we see
in the future, and the transformation in processes, and the way
we manage information, and the effect that it has on our resource
streams, will truly be dramatic.”
Controversial
Dick Brown, EDS chairman and chief executive officer, said such
intranet capabilities have been demonstrated successfully in the
private sector for some time. “Desktop seat management has
been used by private industry for a number of years,” he said.
Brown praised the Navy “for recognizing the improved productivity,
security and savings potential” that are intended to result
from such a project.
But Navy leaders are aware that not everybody is convinced that
enlisting the services of private industry is the safest bet. Danzig
acknowledged that there are critics of such an intranet. Some are
skeptical that by hiring the private sector to run the system, information
will be put at risk.
Danzig, however, insisted that the program will be handled with
care, and he added that the speed and efficiency that private companies
have to offer will prevent the Navy and Marine Corps from being
trapped at a stand-still. Conversely, industry solutions will help
break down communications barriers, he said.
“To seize the benefit of what we are today creating, we will
need to decentralize where historically we have centralized, flatten
decision-making that has historically been hierarchical, integrate
where we are often now separated, customize what we once struggled
to standardize and use private industry to perform functions we
have previously jealously guarded,” Danzig commented.
“There are legitimate objections and inherent difficulties
in what we are trying to do. These must be respected. Our decisions
about our use and governance of this system must take into account
that we are a military organization in the 21st century. We must
embrace the opportunities inherent in this technology change or
put ourselves and the nation at risk. We are going forward because
we cannot stand still. We initiate this system with a commitment
to change the way we think and operate. That is asking a lot of
our sailors, Marines and civilians.”
Said Marine Commandant Gen. James L. Jones, “If we tried
to do this ourselves, we would wind up losing pace with technology.”
The Naval Air Systems Command was to be the first installation
to implement NMCI, in October. The intranet is to be fully implemented
by June 2003. A NMCI contract performance review is scheduled to
take place after the first quarter of installations takes place,
said officials.