Navy puts intranet on fast track

QUANTICO, Va.—The Navy plans to develop, procure and deploy an intranet to serve 700,000 Navy and Marine Corps users in the United States by 2001.

Joe Cipriano, program executive officer for information technology in the Navy, told a packed industry briefing here today that the Navy's requirements "are simple: We want to buy an end-to-end service at a fixed price per seat." He said this would include PCs on 450,000 Navy and Marine desktops, plus software, routers, switches "and everything in between."

The Navy plans a fast-track acquisition strategy, according to Cipriano, with a draft request for proposals due out in September, a final RFP out in November and proposals due in early December. Cipriano said the Navy plans to award the contract to a single bidder May 24, 2000.

Vice Adm. Robert Natter, director of Space, Information Warfare, Command and Control, N6, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy/Marine Corps team has not yet established a price for this network, but Cipriano added "it's in the billions [of dollars]."

A high level Navy source estimated the cost of the intranet at $2 billion, if industry came in with a competitive offer of $5,000 per seat.