NETCENTS BUILDS SOLID FOUNDATION
NETCENTS BUILDS SOLID FOUNDATION
After Four Years, the Networking Products and Services
Contract is Seen as a Success by Both Contractors and Customers.
by Karen E. Thuermer, MIT Correspondent
As it looks ahead to launching a new version of its IT contract vehicle next year, the Air Force will be building on a solid foundation created by the Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) program. Since its implementation in 2004, the networking products and services contract has largely been seen as a success by both contractors and customers.
“That’s because net-centricity is a transforming initiative that will and has driven change in the Air Force and the Department of Defense,” commented John Taylor, NETCENTS program manager.
Managed out of the 754th Electronic Systems Group at Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Montgomery, Ala., the fiveyear, $9 billion acquisition initiative provides the Air Force, DoD, and other federal agencies with a complete range of IT, networking, telephony, and security services, solutions and products.
“The NETCENTS contract is the mandatory source for communications capabilities procured to satisfy Air Force appropriated fund requirements for products and services associated with the design, engineering, integration, installation and configuration of Air Force networks and networked infrastructure,” stated Taylor.
Furthermore, Taylor explained, NETCENTS has been instrumental in the transformation through task orders that have been focused on changing technology, streamlining business processes resulting from Air Force Smart Operations 21 management improvement initiatives, and meeting the demands of the warfighter.
“Much of the work under NETCENTS has helped to globally interconnect the network environment, ensure timely and seamlessly sharing of data among users, and shorten decision-making cycles,” he said. “NETCENTS enables the Air Force, DoD and other federal agencies to effectively and efficiently integrate and implement COTS netcentric solutions worldwide, paving the way for convergence by installing and upgrading switches and providing savings by way of efficiency, discounts, with the right mix of primes and sub-contractors.
“NETCENTS customers have benefited from the continuity and expertise brought by NETCENTS integrators,” Taylor continued. “Because of the NETCENTS contract, the AF has made progress toward a more standardized net-centric infrastructure.”
The contract is in the first option year following a three-year base contract. One option year remains. Eight companies (four large and four small) have prime contracts under this indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery (IDIQ) initiative, along with hundreds of participating equipment manufacturers and service subcontractors and partners.
“The basic NETCENTS contract is structured to ensure compliance with AF and DoD architecture and security standards,” added Taylor. “Through strong partnerships and collaboration, optimal and standardized solutions are provided to the client. Teaming partners bring responsive specialized expertise and extended geographical presence to the prime contractor and at significant value to the warfighter.”
TEAM APPROACH
That teaming aspect is regarded a key component of the contract’s success. “At the time of the award of NETCENTS, we awarded contracts to four small and four large businesses,” Taylor explained. “To date, the small businesses have captured $1.6 billion dollars of the $3.8 billion placed against the NETCENTS contract. Additionally, each large contractor has a subcontracting plan that further promotes small business participation through teaming arrangements.”
According to Taylor, NETCENTS has resulted in 5,524 orders being issued by Air Force and other DoD customers.
“That’s because the contract is very flexible and diverse, efficient and easy to use,” he said. “The low fee (1 percent), timely responses, access to International Organization for Standardization and Capability Maturity Model Integration certified companies’ diverse skill sets, original equipment manufacturers and associated value added resellers for products also make for an attractive contract vehicle.
“The NETCENTS Program Management Office compared $29 million of the $70 million of products sold during 2nd quarter of FY08 to similar contract sources, and the results revealed a savings of over $7 million to the government for the quarter.”
Overall ordering for NETCENTS ends in September 2009, after which the NETCENTS 2 contract will go into effect. The Air Force has already begun work on the follow-on contract, which has attracted strong interest from potential contract competitors. (See MIT 12.3, April 2008, page 38.)
Following are comments from several current NETCENTS contractors about the contract—what they have to offer and how they have benefited as a result of participating— as well as from some companies interested in participating the program in the future.
GENERAL DYNAMICS IT
With a core team of partners and more than 120 original equipment manufacturers, General Dynamics Information Technology is the largest NETCENTS prime contractor. “General Dynamics Information Technology has been awarded over 1,000 orders with a funded amount of over $650 million through 2007 based on the latest NETCENTS Freedom of Information Act report,” stated Steve Coughlan, vice president, NETCENTS.
NETCENTS has provided many benefits to customers of General Dynamics, Coughlan said. “We’re pleased to be able to support it at these levels. We will continue to work closely with the Air Force to provide costcompetitive, standards-based IT solutions that protect and enhance the warfighter.”
General Dynamics has been consistently successful in addressing NETCENTS requirements, including products, enterprise services and Air Force Network Operations (AFNetOps) solutions task orders. The company has been selected to lead on several AFNetOps and Air Force enterprise initiatives awarded under the current contract, including Air Force 2nd Generation Wireless, Integrated Network Operations and Security Centers, Pacific Enterprise Services Unit, and multiple Combat Information Transport System awards.
In addition, the company has been a leader in providing enterprise service solutions, including Scope Edge, Air Force Network Operations Center (AFNOC) and the Field Assistance Service (FAS). The AFNOC provides round-the-clock operational support to the Air Force Enterprise Network and supports hundreds of users at some 140 sites nationwide. The FAS provides full-time support on over 100 Combat Support Information Systems and communications systems at over 400 sites worldwide.
GDIT is also one of the top NETCENTS providers of products, with well over $150 million in product orders received to date based on the latest NETCENTS report.
“Product acquisitions on NETCENTS are extremely competitive, and our recent analysis has indicated that the General Dynamics Information Technology awarded price on average is significantly lower than pricing available through other vendors on GSA contracts,” Coughlan said. “In addition, General Dynamics Information Technology ensures that products delivered are compliant with all Air Force and DoD standards, specifications and security requirements. Our success has been shared with our small business partners, as we have subcontracted almost 40 percent of total subcontracted dollars to small business.”
HARRIS IT SERVICES “The program has been very successful for us,” said John Heller, vice president for DoD programs at Harris IT Services. “For example, we’re first among the eight NETCENTS prime contractors in the number of orders awarded, and run a close third in total contract value. As of April 2008, we’ve been issued 30 percent of the total orders awarded on the program. The NETCENTS contract is a big part of our business.”
The Air Force originally awarded the contract in 2004 to Multimax, which was acquired by Harris last year. Under the NETCENTS 1 contract, the company is providing installation, integration, and operations and management services for networks, systems and IT products for DoD.
“We think we are very good at working with the contracts and understand what it takes to be successful. It starts with the program management office. We have a focused NETCENTS office in Montgomery,” Heller said, adding that a team of eight people works with the program manager there. Among the variety of task orders with which Harris has been involved are infrastructure, installation and support work.
“One of our older projects with which we are still involved today is a project to support Manas Air Force Base in Kyrgyzstan,” Heller said. Harris provides 24/7 communications, operations maintenance support for voice, data and video normally provided by an Air Force communications squadron in that Central Asian nation. This involves a team of approximately 40 people.
“We just completed an 11-month contract that was to solve the cable infrastructure for Santa Rosa Island, an Eglin Air Force Base facility,” he added. This involved rebuilding and strengthening a hurricane-resistant fiber-optic cable system on Santa Rosa Island, making it capable of withstanding a storm surge and overwash of 19 feet or greater. Santa Rosa is home to the Range Information Grid, which supports a broad spectrum of weapons research, testing, development and other programs at Eglin AFB, FL.
“This was over 18 miles of hurricanesurvivable fiber optics cable,” he explained. “It was a big job. The infrastructure had been destroyed due to a hurricane. We had a team working there very hard to solve the infrastructure.”
Other NETCENTS task orders that Harris has been awarded include providing technical expertise for all facets of the Electronics Systems Center (ESC) Operations Systems Support Wing (OSSW) at Maxwell AFB, which includes independent test and evaluation and IT security services, as well as supporting the development of the next version of Tactical Air Control Party Close Air Support software at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., HQ ESC.
“The Air Force sees the NETCENTS as a valuable tool,” Heller commented. “It offers quick and efficient contracts for support. Consequently, there are a lot of jobs that go through NETCENTS.
“Without the NETCENTS contract, companies like Harris would not be able to compete,” he said. “Before we would have needed for people at every site in the Air Force to know what different acquisitions are taking place and understand what the Air Force’s requirements are. It’s tough to understand what the Air Force’s requirements are. The NETCENTS contract allows a group of contractors to focus and understand the requirements of the Air Force, and have the skills available knowing that there will be contracts coming.”
NETCENTS has also helped foster team partnerships. “We don’t do any job without a team of other companies that work together to find the right solution,” Heller said. “We could not accomplish what we do without our partners.”
Harris IT Services currently has well over 40 to 50 partners in the NETCENTS contract.
“We are very focused on building longterm relationships with the Air Force,” added Heller. “We have invested in the skill sets they need to make certain they are ready to respond. We are also very focused on NETCENTS 2.”
Besides being a networking product and services contract for the Air Force, NETCENTS has brought benefits to other branches of the military as well. Recently, Harris IT Services has introduced the NETCENTS contract to Army and Navy customers. Among them have been providing local operations and support to the Army Dental Command at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and other Army dental clinics at locations around the world. Harris IT Services also will provide development of new modules, including worldwide support to DENCOM customers’ dental clinics and dental enterprise digital radiography programs as needed.
Another involved engineering, furnishing, installing and testing the network refresh devices for the Navy at 14 overseas Navy Enterprise Network locations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Far East. Thirteen of 14 site refreshes have been completed.
“Even the Navy finds NETCENTS to be a valuable tool,” Heller said. “NETCENTS can be used DoD-wide. While the other branches of the military did not use NETCENTS much at first, over time NETCENTS has become the contract vehicle used DoD-wide.”
TELOS MANAGED SOLUTIONS
Ralph Buona, senior vice president of Telos Managed Solutions, regards NETCENTS 1 a very successful contract from the perspective of both Telos and its customers. Telos has won more than 1,000 orders since the contract was awarded.
“Our customers liked the contract due to its ease of use, flexibility and decentralized ordering capability,” he said. “Telos has done extremely well under NETCENTS 1. We continue to work at every Air Force Major Command and with the Air National Guard, plus other federal customers using NETCENTS 1.”
While Telos provides products for its customers, its real focus has been on real solutions to the government. A prime example is the work the company has performed under the Air Force Combat Information Transport Systems program.
“We are implementing the Second Generation Wireless Local Area Network Expansion at 110 Air Force locations worldwide,” Buona revealed. “This was a task order, valued at $115 million over the next three years, that was awarded under NETCENTS 1.”
Orders will continue to be placed under NETCENTS 1 until September 2009, while performance on those orders can continue until September 2012.
Additionally, the Air Force’s 754th Electronic Systems Group at Maxwell AFBGunter Annex has awarded Telos a two-year contract under NETCENTS 1 to provide application-level security, software and services to build an Application Software Assurance Center of Excellence. The center of excellence will be tasked with establishing application security best practices Air Force-wide. This contract order is roughly $75 million.
“We also recently won NETCENTS 1 task orders to set up enterprisewide organizational messaging capabilities for the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility and the Canadian Ministry of Defence,” he stated.
Under these task orders, Telos will be implementing its Xacta Automated Message Handling System hardware suite and software licensing to provide communications support for USCENTCOM and the Canadian Ministry of Defence.
Regarding partner relationships, Buona described what he sees as two different approaches taken by prime contractors in building contracting teams. “Most have adopted a ‘sweep the streets” approach, meaning they gobbled up dozens—some more than 100—teammates as subcontractors,” he said. “We took a `swim lane’ approach and tried to build a small, focused team of subcontractors with strong expertise and past performance in distinct functional areas.
“Every team member has a particular focus, or swim lane, with a real expertise in that area,” he continued. “This way, when an RFP comes out, we stand a real shot at getting work, not just for Telos, but for our entire NETCENTS 1 team. This formula has proven to be quite successful for Telos and our team members.”
LOCKHEED MARTIN
The current NETCENTS contract is a valued and vital component of Lockheed Martin business development and delivery organizations, according to business development executive Paul Whitebread. “NETCENTS is a new type of contract vehicle that required a learning curve in terms of how to best utilize the contract. We’ve found that a major advantage of the vehicle is that it helps expedite the procurement process for our customers.”
Lockheed Martin has found that the pre-negotiated contract terms outlined in NETCENTS allow the customer to contract in days rather than weeks and months. Consequently, NETCENTS has become a successful IDIQ vehicle within Lockheed Martin and is being utilized across the corporation.
Lockheed Martin NETCENTS projects and contracts range from enterprise IT hardware and software product fulfillment to on-site critical application and IT support requirements, to the development and delivery of mission capabilities.
“The NETCENTS IDIQ contract has a broad scope definition that allows Lockheed Martin to continue to provide services to current customers as well as to gain access to related and new business markets,” Whitebread said. “The broad range of contract users across the Air Force and other DoD agencies has provided Lockheed Martin the ability to expand market presence, enter into new business areas, and continue to grow the current customer base.”
OTHER COMPANIES
NETCENTS 2 will be an extremely critical acquisition for the Air Force, according to Air Force Lieutenant General John L. “Jack” Woodward (Ret.), who currently is a senior executive within Accenture’s defense group responsible for national security business development.
“They must get the solicitation right from the beginning and provide the right companies a reasonable chance to bid in their categories. The entire Air Force organization depends on this vehicle to get their infrastructure done, applications of the future, and SOAs, and have the ability to maintain/sustain capabilities at lesser costs,” said Woodward, who retired from the Air Force as deputy chief of staff for communications and information systems as well as deputy chief information officer, Headquarters.
It is important to learn lessons from the original NETCENTS contracts, Woodward said, while warning against having a traditional acquisition process. “Let’s do it differently when buying IT and give the commercial partners who have been doing this for a while the opportunity to bring forth new levels of capability. The Air Force needs a reliable process to leverage existing capabilities better than they do today, and must look for new ways to make the contracting process easier.”
“Major reform in acquisition means more than just weapons systems,” he continued. “It means IT, too—that’s the underpinning and should be prominent in any acquisition transformation exercise, not an afterthought or add-on.”
“Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) applauds the Air Force for the success of the NETCENTS concept and the value it offers to the Air Force and DoD IT community,” said Air Force Lieutenant General Dave Vesely (Ret.), SAIC senior vice president and strategic account executive. “NETCENTS has helped the Air Force and other DoD users support military commands across all the services and a complex mix of national security missions, while introducing advanced technologies and achieving significant savings in both dollars and time.
“With a global reach and vast IDIQ experience, a company like SAIC is positioned to work with the Air Force to place smart people solving hard problems where the Air Force needs them. SAIC is a large provider of IT capabilities across the national security community, from architectural design to systems engineering and integration, critical infrastructure and security enhancement, network management and logistics support. We consider NETCENTS 2 a vital vehicle to expand our support of the DoD customers,” Vesely said.
“SAIC brings impressive qualifications like operating the largest DoD network, designing DoD architectures like those of BTA, NCES and NECC, and installing and overseeing network infrastructures such as the GIG-BE,” he continued. “Our team is focused on NETCENTS 2 as a top priority, ensuring we can continue to bring the extraordinary core competencies of SAIC to bear in solving DoD’s most difficult problems. We look forward to further strengthening our trusted relationship with the Air Force through NETCENTS 2.” ♦
