GAO to Navy: Rethink $50B NGEN

I've been so busy with earthquake coverage that I've neglected the boilerplate of my beat, which includes reading GAO reports -- a tough job, but someone has to do it.

The GAO said in a report released last Thursday that the Navy needs to take another look at plans for its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), which will replace the much-loathed, decade old Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI).

GAO said the Navy needs to limit spending on NGEN while it considers alternatives to the current plan, which includes five separate NGEN procurements. These alternatives include an extension of the current NMCI contract held by HP Enterprise Services, a single contract similar to NMCI, multiple contracts with competing vendors and finally an approach which would include an even larger number of vendors.

Meanwhile, GAO said, the Navy has spent about $432 million on work associated with the transition from NMCI to NGEN.

In the not so distant past such a sum could have bought a couple of ships. Now it's a rounding error.