Army IT exec eyes NMCI

If the Army decides to follow in the Navy's footsteps with an outsourcingeffort similar to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, it likely would take atleast two years to get started, according to David Borland, the Army's deputychief information officer.

The Navy Marine Corps Intranet is a $6.9 billion effort to provide commerciallyowned and operated ship-to-shore communications and is being touted by manyin the Defense Department as a model for other services and federal agenciesto follow.

So far, some military officials have praised the outsourcing idea but saidthey will wait and see if the effort is successful before jumping on theNMCI bandwagon.

Borland echoed that sentiment but — in what might be the most supportivestatement yet by an official from another service - he also indicated thathe likes what he sees so far.

"I've spent a lot of time over the past month or so working to understandthe crux of that program," Borland said, speaking at a Federal Sources Inc.breakfast in McLean, Va., Thursday. "It's a very, very attractive program.We're going to sit back and see what we can learn from the Navy experience.

"The notion of an NMCI-like structure within the Army is not out of thequestion," he said.

Borland pointed out, however, that the Navy spent about four years preparingfor NMCI and said it would take the Army some time to do the same if officialsdecided in favor of a similar effort.

"If we were to embark on an NMCI-like structure, it would take a coupleof years before we could do that," Borland said.