Army adds requirements to logistics system
The Global Combat Support System will give the Army better insights into managing its supplies.
The Army has added requirements to the project to modernize its logistics organizations on Army installations, a Northrop Grumman Information Systems spokesman said Aug. 15.
Army officials modified the Army's contract with Northrop Grumman Information Systems for the department’s Global Combat Support System (GCSS-Army), the Defense Department announced Aug. 14.
The company received a $299 million contract modification for the logistics management project, which is to be completed in 2017.
Army officials and Northrop Grumman are developing a single, web-based system to manage the tactical supply and maintenance throughout the Army. GCSS-Army will give military officials near-real-time information on their supplies. They will be able to get details on their total assets and will be able to better account for their property. Overall, the system will automatically perform and streamline tasks that currently consume hours of soldiers’ time, freeing them to perform other important duties, the company said. GCSS-Army will replace some stovepiped systems that date back to the early 1980s. It will retire approximately 65,000 stand-alone data repositories, essentially desktop systems.
The new system will replace the Army’s 12 current Standard Army Management Information Systems. More specifically, the new system will replace the Standard Army Retail Supply System, Standard Army Maintenance System Enhanced, Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced, Unit Level Logistics System Aviations Enhanced, along with many other unique applications, and the materiel management structure associated with these systems.
In December 2007, Northrop Grumman Information Systems received a multi-year, full-system lifecycle contract to develop and sustain the Army’s future tactical logistics system. In August 2011, the program received its Milestone C approval, which officially moved the effort into a formal program of record. Milestone C status allows the program to shift from the engineering, manufacturing and deployment phase into the production and deployment phase, according to a report by Defense Systems.
The Army laid out the central benefit of the new system in a FAQ on its website.
“What makes GCSS-Army better than what I have now? One word Integration,” it states.
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