Marines seeking own IT warehouse

The Marine Corps wants to operate its own IT warehouse, which would be owned and run by the government but supported by contractors, according to a new request for information.

The Corps is looking to change the way it handles its tactical systems and garrison IT once its Next Generation Enterprise Network contract goes into effect in May 2014. The industry team behind NGEN’s predecessor, the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, currently owns and operates the facility that handles garrison IT. Tactical IT is handled by a Charleston, S.C.-based commercial facility.

“The purpose of this RFI is to solicit information from industry that can provide program management, logistics management, logistics analysis, information technology software and hardware installation, software and hardware quality assurance, warranty disputes, warehousing management and warehousing operations [and] customer support, that will enable the execution of [receiving, inventory, imaging, kitting and shipping],” the RFI states.

Under the RFI the Marines would bring in-house the management of 10,000 tactical hardware assets, 35,000 garrison hardware assets and 3,000 hardware assets managed for Marine Corps customers.

The contractor would be responsible for receiving, filling and delivering hardware orders, as well as helping integrate software and with planning, development, training, operational consulting, problem resolution and systems maintenance, according to the RFI, which has a Feb. 11 deadline for responses.

In a time of consolidation and shared services, the Marines’ plan seems a bit contrarian.  As Washington Technology, which reported on the RFI in a Jan. 14 blog post, put it: “There is no mention of cost savings or improved efficiency. And shouldn’t that be a top priority in today’s budget environment?” And why, Washington Technology editor Nick Wakeman added, do the Marines want the hassles of finding a site, maintaining a building and controlling the inventory?