JIVA holds multiple deals for IT firms

Federal contractors have multiple procurements to look toward as the Defense Intelligence Agency lays out plans to deliver on its proposed Joint Intelligence Virtual Architecture during the next 10 years.

JIVA discussed publicly for the first time last month will provide the defense intelligence community with advanced tools for sifting through analyzing and sharing data in a real-time interactive environment. DIA's JIVA rollout will begin this fiscal year.

DIA which has established a JIVA integration management office has not finalized an acquisition strategy - the implementation plan is still being reviewed - but has sketched out a rough guideline that begins with prototype deployment in fiscal 1997 before a wide rollout of initial capabilities in fiscal 1998 an agency official said.

The first five-year phase will focus on providing initial capabilities by creating the JIVA environment including the automation base and off-the-shelf analytical tools.

In the second five-year phase the agency will explore what advanced capabilities might be gained in areas such as artificial intelligence.

DIA believes four major components must be provided to make JIVA a reality:* Analytical. "The heart of the program clearly remains the cognitive tools side of the house " the official said. "The focus is to enhance our analytical capability so we can provide more timely relevant data in the decision cycle and so we can get into the decision cycle of the enemy."* Automation. To support this environment DIA needs to ensure that all corners of the intelligence community reach a common level of functionality. This includes everything from desktop computers and servers to security and networking.* Administrative processes. JIVA will require DIA to establish policies and procedures in areas such as production and information management to guide how information is integrated evaluated and finally disseminated.* Training. Beyond just providing tools "you have to train people how to operate in this environment " the official said. DIA will be looking into computer-based training and distance learning applications both to train people and to teach people to train others.

DIA plans to run multiple procurements in parallel to deliver on its requirements although it has not decided how these procurements will be structured.