As the Navy gears up for the recompete of the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), its program manager, Capt. Michael Abreu, said the effort will focus on two key areas: services management and transport and end user hardware.
Abreu noted in a Jan. 25 roundtable with reporters that the Navy believes they have a healthy industry base that can compete for both of these segments, based on conversations with and direct feedback from industry.
Abreu added that the decision has not yet been made about whether a single company can win both areas. The Navy still must examine the pros and cons, he said, noting they don't want to limit competition in any way.
Regarding the rationale to split the two: After talking to industry, Abreu said they would be better served to split the end user side of the house and treat it as a commodity, but a value-added commodity. From the end user perspective, the devices that sit on one’s desktop provide certain levels of capability, and there are certain requirements a company can put in place to provide the gear employees need. There are certain things that can be put on top of that as well, he said — innovation, coordination with other aspects of the company — these are things to add more value.
From an end user perspective, cost can potentially be driven down for the end user side of the house while still maintaining a close relationship with services management and transport.
Mark Pomerleau is a reporter for C4ISRNET, covering information warfare and cyberspace.
