Pentagon to outsource network ops

The Defense Department plans this year to outsource support for more than

7,000 desktop users at the Pentagon and will consolidate all Pentagon network

operations and security support in a contract with a single vendor, Federal

Computer Week has learned.

Senior officials recently met to discuss a plan that would transfer

to a single vendor responsibility for at least 7,000 unclassified desktops

within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and an undisclosed number

of classified system users by the first quarter of fiscal 2001. Officials

also discussed plans to outsource all Pentagon network operations and security

to a single commercial contractor.

The goal of the desktop outsourcing deal is to consolidate management

of common applications throughout all OSD offices, said Paul Brubaker, who

today officially became DOD's deputy chief information officer.

"This is a performance-based contract," Brubaker said. "So, we're going

to expect the e-mail to be up" along with various other common computing

applications, he said.

Brubaker said the contract will be mandatory for all OSD personnel.

In addition, the command, control, communications and intelligence office

will be offered local-area network services, desktop help-desk services

and mission application support, he said.

DOD also plans to transfer responsibility for the entire OSD network

backbone within the Pentagon to the Network Infrastructure Services Agency.

NISA-P is responsible for managing how connectivity from the Defense Information

Systems Network is routed and managed throughout the Pentagon.

However, NISA-P plans to outsource all Pentagon network operations and

security, according to Brubaker. "Right now they have a number of fragmented

contracts out there," he said. "What they want to do is get one single contractor

so they have accountability."

Brubaker declined to name the vendor, but said that the company currently

holds a governmentwide acquisition contract.