Pile On for $1.5B Navy Contract

At least four major industry teams submitted bids on Wednesday for the Navy's Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) contract.

And they were not shy about it.

Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman touted their abilities in press releases, while BAE Systems signaled its bid this February. Lockheed Martin Corp. put out its CANES press release early last month.

Such public posturing for an IT deal is somewhat unusual, but Warren Suss, a consultant with Suss Consulting, said the contractors may be following the weapons system bidding playbook, which includes a lot of press hype and advertising.

CANES is designed to replace a decade-old (or more) shipboard IT systems and networks with updated gadgets, gizmos and software. It will dovetail with the Navy's ashore Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) program, a $10 billion deal intended to replace the Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract held by EDS, which expires September 2010.

The CANES bidders will have to jump through a few hops to win the 1.5 billion prizes. The Navy intends to award two system development and design contracts in December, and then after a technical shoot-out, will select one contractor for the full contract.

I'm hopeful that the process will be speedier than most large scale IT buys, as there is some antediluvian gear on Navy ships.