Navy unveils NGEN requirements

A stone’s throw from the White House, 500 government contractors are spending today getting detailed requirements on the Navy’s planned $8.8 billion Next Generation Enterprise Network.

The Navy is hosting the industry day only to present requirements of NGEN, the follow-on to its Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract, which expires Sept. 30, 2010. “We aren’t even fielding questions today,” said Denise Deon, the Navy’s NMCI spokeswoman. Participants may submit questions in writing and will get written answers after today, however, Deon said.

NGEN will support net-centric operations for the larger Naval Network Environment and will extend further and longer than this initial step.

In Department of the Navy Next Generation Enterprise Network Requirements Document Version 2.0, the subject of today’s event, the service details requirements for NGEN Block 1, which “will be a key enabler for the warfighting and business operations.”

The 424-page document details requirements for NGEN Block 1, which “will support all existing capabilities that are provided by the NMCI baseline.” That baseline covers about 400,000 seats across the Navy and Marine Corps.

Subsequent blocks will include improvements to Outside the Continental United States Navy Enterprise Network capabilities.

Faulted in the past for speeding through its due diligence and therefore failing to understand the complexity, size and scope of the original NMCI contract, the Navy ended by experiencing NMCI as Contracting 101, one analyst said. That’s the past, the Navy made clear in the requirements.

“NGEN will build on lessons learned in operating NMCI, including the need not only for improved reliability, interoperability, information access and security but also for enhanced government visibility into the network and for network command and control,” the requirements document states.

Near the top of the document, the Navy dives into what it calls the capability gap, drawn from a broad range of internal IT models, guides, specifications and other documents, and interviews with Navy and Marine Corps warfighting and business commands.

“Common to the survey data and the formal requirements documents was a need for better collaboration tools, better access to data and better [information assurance] as compared with what is available today,” the requirements document states.

Other areas slated for improvement include better knowledge sharing internally between Navy and Marine Corps organizations and with other Defense Department and government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, coalition partners and private businesses.

The requirements list 12 capability gaps: adaptability, collaboration, cross-domain security, information access, information exchange, IT service management, IT service visibility, policy and governance, security, system interoperability, system responsiveness, and workforce and training.

In general, the document states, NMCI lacks a uniform approach to IT service management; needs better IT governance to align IT requirements, resources and operations within the Navy; and needs a more reliable and adaptable network environment.

But some shortcomings are the result of a combination of gaps, it states: “For example, the inability of remote users to access current network services, applications and data from nongovernment computers reflects problems with both information access and policy and governance.”

The Navy will review questions before issuing a request for proposals. The award is expected in February 2009.