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Hey, didn't EDS lose $1.6 Billion last year on the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet? You would think that a company could make money on the biggest IT contract in history....unless they overdid an underbid.

An interesting writeup of this was in a recent Wall Street Journal. In a nutshell: there were no controls on the contract.

For example, the Navy ordered desktops for some people. Well the individuals that would of received them said that they wanted laptops. However EDS already ordered the desktop and configured it. EDS pretty much had to eat that and order a laptop. Do that enought times and you have a warehouse full of desktops that can't be unloaded.

There were other logastical problems too, like EDS contractors being denied entry onto a military base as they lacked credentials. While that's not a major obsticle, its another sign that there was a lack of attention to detail.

I am an unfortunate NMCI customer. My previous post was a sarcastic question. NMCI continues to be a big problem for the Navy. Here are some of the reasons why.

For EDS

1. They bid way too low. The contract called for bandwidth and capabilities which required all new infrastructure. That cost a lot.
2. Too centralized of a setup. All problems require first calling a help line located in either SD or Norfolk. The help desk usually requires a couple days to fix all but the simplest problems. If my computer suddenly catches on fire, I still have to call the help desk and wait a couple days for the local tech support to fix it. The knowledge base at all levels is pretty low.
3. Extremely sloppy rollout. Computers show up with the wrong configurations. Hardware installed with no supporting software, profiles pointed into the wrong servers or no server at all. RAS works horribly.

For the Navy

1. Poorly thought out roll out plan. Instead of being based on geographical location it was initially based on chain of command. Installations as a whole should have been cutover simultaneously so that commands weren't cut off from the rest of their neighbors.
2. It is extremely difficult to rollout government softwar. Program offices are constantly putting out new versions of software. The customer has to wait for it to be certified for network use. It is very difficult to get software out on a timely basis. It is bad enough that a piece of software my command is developing will run off a CD in order to avoid having to install it on NMCI.
3. Not enough accountability for the contractor. The Navy needs to hold EDS much more accountable for it's screwups. This is a premium contract with a premium CLIN price list. The service we are getting is not premium.