Navy/Marine Corps Intranet
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The Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) is a United States Department of the Navy outsourcing program, in which an outside contractor provides a vast majority of information technology services for the entire Department, including the United States Navy and Marine Corps. As of March 2006, NMCI included some 290,000 computers, making it the largest internal computer network in the world[1].
Unlike other methods of outsourcing, which typically revolve around staffing, under NMCI, the government does not own any IT assets used in the program. Rather, they are owned by the prime contractor, and leased to the government. Pricing is primarily based on a per-machine scheme; however, fees for additional services (such as classified connectivity, mission-critical service, additional user accounts, software installation, seat moves, BlackBerry access, etc.) do apply.
Being the first large-scale (and, as of March 2006, still the largest) federal government IT centralization and outsourcing project, the lessons learned by the program have played a significant role in other government agency efforts to consolidate and outsource IT services.
The NMCI program is managed by the Navy's Program Executive Office–Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS), which is directed, as of late February 2006, by Rear Admiral (upper half) James B. Godwin III.
[edit] History
On October 6, 2000, the NMCI contract was awarded to Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Sub-contractors to EDS include Multimax (previously Netco Government Services and WAM!NET), which provides enterprise network infrastructure design and support, and Verizon, which provides wide area network (WAN) connectivity. Raytheon was previously a major partner on the contract, providing security services, however, those functions have since been assumed by EDS.
The project promised many solutions to problems plaguing the naval military networks. Single sign-on, usable anywhere, was a major benefit, as was a single point of contact (the NMCI helpdesk) for any IT issues. In fact, most operational users have been less than satisfied; customer surveys report a satisfaction rate [2] of 74% for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2005 (down four points from September 2005). Overall, NMCI customers are most dissatisfied with the convoluted process involved with IT adaptability in a military environment, and operations are further hampered by removing or reallocating the military personnel which previously handled IT support and replacing them with a small team of contractors.
Soon after its inception, NMCI suffered some widely-publicised setbacks. Rollout delays resulted in financial losses to the company. Issues related to government accreditation also resulted massive delays and financial costs. Major concessions made to the Marine Corps Network Operations and Security Command also caused major delays in deployment to Marine Corps commands. The customer satisfaction surveys have also come under repeated fire. As the NMCI program office and prime contractor controls the layout, distribution, and analysis, some assert that the end result is not as honest an assessment as would be generated by an objective third party. Since the surveys began a few years ago, the NMCI program office has declined to release the raw data from the survey, instead issuing a release about the results. NMCI's director, Rear Admiral James B. Godwin III said releasing the results would challenge the "integrity of our data."
Despite these complaints, the Department of the Navy has shown no desire to scale back or cancel the program. On 24 March 2006 the Department of the Navy exercised its option to continue the contract through September 2010. This three-year extension added more than US$3 billion to the program's overall contract value[3].
In April 2006, implementation of a smartcard-based logon system began[4]. Cryptographic Log On (CLO) requires users to use their Common Access Cards (CACs) to log on to the NMCI network.
