EDS may lose almost 7 billion dollar Navy Intranet contract

World Tech Tribune.com ^ | Copyright 2002 - October 21, 2002 | Scott McCollum

[Scott McCollum]

“EDS also found that the Navy’s computers were often purchased by different departments at the political whim of the department heads (Think: 'I’m a rear admiral, so I should have better computers than some captain.') Some PCs used by clerks were clunky old all-in-one Macs from 1984 while other clerks were using new Intel Pentium 4 systems with CD burners and 21” flat panel monitors.”

[Scott McCollum]

Looks like political concerns trump the idea of saving taxpayers money when it comes to the EDS/Navy Intranet contract...

[toupsie]

I’m a rear admiral

If they want to keep gays out of the military, they need to drop this rank.

[lelio]

I can't see why the Navy outsourced this in the first place. Don't you have to have some sort of Navy experience / clearance to work on their systems?
I couldn't understand the part in the article that mentions linux and costs, implying that a Linux workstation is more expensive than a MS one. Perhaps they are buying that HP "secure" version of Linux.
EDS has gotten itself into a bad spot by placing itself inthe middle of a political battle in the Navy. I can't see EDS escaping from this without major bruises.

[Dstorm]

This article is BS the problem on the NMCI contract has to do with over 100,000 GOTS and COTS software programs, the Navy and Marine Corps is using. The Navy at first thought they only had 10,000 of these programs. They have to be tested and passed for security. There was an article in the compost business section on this two weeks ago

[lelio]

100,000 GOTS and COTS software programs
By "program" do you mean anything that ties one system into another? I can see that easily approaching that amount when you're trying to get a feed going between new and legacy apps.

[dheretic]

Looks like political concerns trump the idea of saving taxpayers money when it comes to the EDS/Navy Intranet contract...

Scott McCollum concerned about government waste? This coming from the guy who calls for more "transparency" on the Internet (read: let's replace TCP/IP and have to rebuild the entire US economy to make the lives of federal law enforcement officers easier)

[Dstorm]

Legacy Apps, I'll try and find the link for you to the article.

[Poohbah]

Don't you have to have some sort of Navy experience / clearance to work on their systems?

For most Navy work, you don't. Most of the Navy's business processes aren't that far removed from civilian ones, and NMCI is intended to support those processes.

[Dstorm]

Here's the Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37882-2002Oct17.html

[Vineyard]

It is actually worse than you might think.

The O-7 rank is "Rear Admiral, Lower Half". You really want to get promoted out of that rank to O-8.

The O-8 rank is "Rear Admiral, Upper Half". A slight improvement - or is it an oxymoron.

I kid you not!!!

Mike, USNR

[Poohbah]

Well, it depends on who's on top and who's on the bottom...

[flyer182]

From a USMC perspective as we were being forced to play with this nightmare, we couldn't be happier to see it go away. No idea how it would have worked for the Navy.

[Scott McCollum]

Sir,

As a Marine, what are your thoughts on consolidating the NMCI into one standard network? Why is the Navy/Marine Corps fighting to keep the literally thousands of antiquated and dysfunctional software apps and hardware platforms in favor of moving to a more modern system?

Thanks for your service to the people of the United States of America and for your comments.

[Bush2000]

"A year into the EDS contract, certain Navy [whiners] are screaming about having to give up their non-Microsoft servers and desktops..."

[Willie Green]

Related thread: CEO of EDS Warns of Pending Layoffs

[flyer182]

In what way will giving EDS improve how we operate? It will make the shareholders of EDS happy, but no one from the USMC communication community likes what was being forced on us. Your words of antiquated and dysfunctional don't hold true for us. Currently the gear we use in garrison is the gear we deploy with, is EDS going with us to the field? I have no idea about the navy, as they stay afloat they have other issues. Modern, we have what we need and we are good about getting it down to who needs it most.