Navy intranet backers push for continued funding

These days, Ron Turner feels like the chief marketer for the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) project instead of the Navy's deputy chief information officer for infrastructure, systems and technology. NMCI is the Navy's 5-year, $4.1 billion-effort to outsource the technology, maintenance and help desk support for over 350,000 desktops and 200 networks. Electronic Data Systems Corp. was awarded the contract in October 2000 and has been working to assume responsibility for more than 40,000 "seats" in the Naval Aviation Systems Command. A seat is the unit of service in the NMCI, typically consisting of the products and services required to support a single worker. Turner is helping Navy customers understand the NMCI concept. Last week, he gave seven different presentations on the value and vision of the NMCI project to key Navy constituencies. Turner accepts the fact that for NMCI to be successful, he and his staff "have to become sales people," a major shift, he said at a press conference Tuesday. Turner has learned to sell the NMCI project to staffers on Capitol Hill as well. "We made 70 trips to the Hill last year," he said. "We expect the rate of visits this year to exceed that." Turner said Hill visits are necessary to ensure there are no surprises when it comes to funding and obtaining the support of key senators and representatives. The Navy has focused on providing information on the project to Congress as it is available, rather than delivering an omnibus document late in the fiscal year. The Navy wants to ensure NMCI funding and approval before October. Under the contract, the Navy must pay a penalty to EDS if it does not order its next set of seats before the start of fiscal 2002. The Navy and Congress are attempting to ensure that development of NMCI will not affect fleet readiness or diminish the amount of money the Navy has to spend on ships and weapons systems. Currently, the Navy's operating expenses amount to 70 percent of its budget. This leaves only 30 percent for new warfighting capabilities. Turner said NMCI is intended to help cut the Navy's operating expenses. Turner admitted that NMCI is about one month behind schedule. The large number of old systems at Naval Air Systems Command has hampered EDS. Turner said there were 7,000 applications that all needed access to the NMCI environment causing the delay. "We may be a month behind," Turner said. "But, that's not too far behind for a project of this size." Turner said that the Navy is looking toward using portal technology as the entrance to NMCI. This means users would access NMCI and the applications attached to it through a single Web site. The Navy hopes to equip the portal with public key infrastructure technology that works with the Defense Department's new Common Access Card to authenticate users and provide access to secure applications. By using public key infrastructure technology with the portal, the Navy hopes to avoid having to equip every application attached to NMCI with the technology. However, the Navy's portal plans are still in development and could change in the future. NMCI has piqued the interest of other federal agencies. Turner said there are only two agencies his organization has not briefed about the project.