Slow NPS suit. New Army CIO org chart. NetCents two cents. Giving CSEL the hook. Help plan the intel office.
A real slow NPS suit
The suit by 10 labor unions against plans by the Defense Department and Office of Personnel Management to institute the new National Security Personnel System (NSPS) seems to be on a slow track. The suit was filed Feb. 23, and DOD and OPM officials have 40 working days to reply, said Adele Stan, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of Government Employees.
Stan says AFGE’s lawyers expect DOD and OPM to take the full 40 days to reply, which would produce a response around mid-April. More papers will inevitably be exchanged between the two sides, which means the suit that governs the fate of all DOD civilian employees could start in time for the parties celebrating Captain Kangaroo’s birthday.
New Army CIO office org chart
We hear Lt. Gen. Steve Boutelle, the Army’s chief information officer, will soon announce the realignment of his office.
The service’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems Industry Day this week makes a great showcase for the announcement. In case you do not want to fight the Beltway traffic to Bethesda, Md., to hear about the organization, under the CIO/G-6 are:
What fun is there in the Pentagon without a little reorganization every now and then?
NetCents two cents
One of our trusted reseller sources revealed that John Gilligan, the Air Force’s CIO, sent a memo last month telling Air Force employees to use only the service’s new Network Centric Solutions contract when buying information technology. Why would Gilligan send a memo? The wise Pete Cuviello, the Army’s former CIO, now with Lockheed Martin, once proclaimed that perhaps it takes a memo to get people’s attention.
Or maybe Gilligan wants to make a point before he leaves the Air Force soon for a job in industry. The Interceptors notice he continues to make the rounds on the Washington, D.C., speaking circuit, which could be a sign that he wants to get out of government.
Give CSEL the Hook?
The Combat Survivor Evader Locator program, intended to provide downed pilots with a radio equipped with Global Positioning System and satellite communications, still has significant problems, according to the DOD’s 2004 Operational Test and Evaluations report.
Tests showed that the radios worked only 58 percent of the time when a pilot attempted to contact a rescue center. Those are not great odds when the bad guys start to move in and pilots want some air cover.
The locator program, managed by Boeing, is also under assault by General Dynamics, which has mounted a successful and not-so-subtle marketing campaign for a competing radio, the PRC-112 “Hook.”
DOD’s Operational Test and Evaluations will add oversight of the Hook this year. That will likely derail General Dynamics’ future marketing efforts.
Help plan the new intelligence edifice
We noticed that the 2005 DOD supplemental spending bill, designed to provide funding for combat gear and troops, also contained $250 million in funds to build a headquarters for the new Office of Director of National Intelligence.
We’re sure John Negroponte deserves the palace this quarter of a billion will buy, but we would like your help in planning and designing the intelligence edifice. We would like your ideas on location — suburban, for example, like the CIA’s headquarters — and architectural motif.
We think the façade of the building should be composed entirely of concrete Jersey barriers to fit with the prevailing architectural mood of the greater Washington, D.C., metro area. But we want your ideas, too. Send an e-mail to either of the Interceptors with the subject line “Intelligence Edifice.”
Winners and their friends will receive a cheese montage and drinks served at the Salmon Run, our own architectural oddity here at Fairview Park in Falls Church, Va.
Intercept something? Send it to bbrewin@fcw.com or ftiboni@fcw.com.
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