The Navy plans to modify its contract with Hewlett Packard [HP] to cover the cost of operating the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) beyond this September, and is including an option that allows for extending the services through September 2014 in case the transition to its planned next generation network falls behind schedule.
The modification under the continuity of services contract lifts the spending ceiling by $1.2 billion to a new amount of $6.1 billion, which would keep NMCI running beyond September, when it is expected to run out of money. That increase would also cover the cost needed in case the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) is not ready by the planned April 2014 timeframe, according to a release issued by the Navy Wednesday night.
“It is a prudent step that allows the (Department of the Navy) to manage potential changes associated with the NGEN acquisition and transition,” Ed Austin, a spokesman for the program office for Enterprise Information Systems, said. “Any interruption in network services during the acquisition and transition to NGEN is not acceptable.”
The contract announcement comes weeks after the Navy said it was delaying awarding the contracts for NGEN by three months until at May. The Navy said it needed more time to evaluate the proposals offered by the two industry teams competing for the lucrative program (Defense Daily, Feb. 1).
Two industry groups are competing for separate contracts–one for enterprises services and a second for transport services–although both could be awarded to one group and combined could reach a total value of $5.3 billion over the next five years.
The Navy issued the final request for proposals for NGEN last May, two years behind the original schedule and months later than revised plans to do so by the end of 2011.
NMCI incumbent Hewlett-Packard [HP] is leading a team consisting of Northrop Grumman [NOC], IBM [IBM], AT&T [T] and Lockheed Martin [LMT]. A second team has been formed by Harris Corp. [HRS] and Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC] and includes General Dynamics [GD] and Verizon Communications [VZ].
NGEN is intended to provide secure, net-centric data and services to 800,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel and connect 400,000 workstations. NMCI already represents the largest intranet in the U.S. government and began in 2000 under a contract with Electronic Data Systems, which HP acquired in 2008.
The continuity of services contract was originally issued in October 2010.