Intercepts

NMCI Testing, Part II

Some Pentagon and Navy officials are clearly sensitive about the seemingly unending discussion about the testing of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet. The Interceptor received critical e-mails regarding his Jan. 21 item noting that despite an agreement on how to proceed with NMCI testing, how much testing should occur is still unresolved.

At issue is the "stress test" that NMCI must endure once 85 percent of the seats have been rolled out. But the agreement fails to define stress testing. Defense Department chief information officer John Stenbit has said only that he wants to push NMCI to the breaking point.

In spite of the testy e-mails, when questioned further, officials acknowledge that the issue of what constitutes stress testing is still, in fact, unresolved.

Meanwhile, Steven Ehrler, executive director of the Navy's Information Technology Program Executive Office, said that the Navy's per-seat cost under the NMCI contract is nearly half of its initial projections. The average cost of a typical PC under the NMCI contract, minus amortized costs, is about $2,000 per seat each year, Ehrler said. The Navy's early cost projections were about $4,000 per seat each year.

Deepwater Revs Up

The Coast Guard's Deepwater program is filling its sails. The agency has accelerated development of a virtual office that will help officials manage the program, Coast Guard officials said last week at E-Gov's electronic-procurement conference.

In fact, senior managers began training on the new computer and networking system on Jan. 31, said Greg.ory Giddens, Deepwater's deputy program executive officer.

Deepwater is a multibillion-dollar procurement effort for the replacement of 90 ships, 200 aircraft and the systems that connect them. The Coast Guard will award a performance-based contract to a systems integrator sometime between April and June, Giddens said.

Three industry teams — Boeing Co. with subcontractors and two joint ventures — are vying for the prize.

Deepwater received $320 million in funding for fiscal 2002. "We see positive things happening for the Coast Guard," Giddens said. "We certainly think the funding level we got is sustainable."

Still, expect a battle over the discretionary fund within the Transportation Department, which "is not huge," he said. "It's a tough neighborhood to fight in. It's going to be an interesting ride."

Stop the Presses

Here's something you don't see very often: a General Accounting Office report that actually praises DOD for doing what it's supposed to be doing.

The Jan. 28 report says DOD is on target to meet a congressional requirement to track purchases of information technology products and services.

The DOD fiscal 2001 authorization bill required the department to collect specific procurement data on its purchases of IT products and services beginning Oct. 30, 2001. That data includes which products or services are purchased and for how much, whether they are commercial items and how the purchases were completed. The data will also show how much vendor competition was involved.

For the GAO we all know and love, see the next item.

SPS Reunion

A hearing on DOD's troubled Standard Procurement System has been rescheduled for this week.

DOD officials are expected to respond to an unusually critical GAO report that stated in part, "DOD's management of SPS is a lesson in how not to justify, make and monitor the implementation of [IT] investment decisions."

SPS is meant to automate the often complex process that Pentagon procurement officials use to buy $130 billion in goods and services each year. The system was scheduled to be rolled out in March 2000, but has been plagued by delays.

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