Andersen Consulting lends expertise to intell agencies

Andersen Consulting will provide enterprise resource planning services to three Defense intelligence agencies through a five-year, $13.8 million contract that will shift support of non-mission related functions from the agencies to Andersen and its partners.

Eric Stange, a partner with the Andersen Consulting Americas Federal unit, said the new contract will enable the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, to shift management and oversight of non-core functions — such as human resources, student administration, supply-chain management and security — to Andersen.

Three agencies have already installed PeopleSoft Inc. software modules to aid in management of those non-core functions, which Stange said amounted to corporate plumbing. Stange added the new contract will aid Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, the NSA's director, in his bold transformation plan for the agency, which includes a re-dedication to mission basics.

"This will help him [Hayden] better take care of the day-to-day administrative stuff....it will take those headaches away and allow him to get back to basics," Stange said. By spreading the contract across three agencies, Stange said, NSA, DIA and NIMA "will get economies of scale....this is much more efficient than each going out separately for their own procurements."