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thedrifter
01-04-07, 09:45 AM
Navy-Marines Intranet Program Failing To Meet Goals, GAO Says
By Michael Fabey/NetDefense
01/04/2007 09:24:34 AM

The Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) - a 10-year, $9.3 billion information technology services program - needs some tweaking, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

"NMCI has not met its two strategic goals - to provide information superiority and to foster innovation via interoperability and shared services," the GAO said its December report, "DOD Needs to Ensure That Navy Marine Corps Intranet Program Is Meeting Goals and Satisfying Customers."

The Navy developed a performance plan in 2000 to measure and report progress toward these goals, but failed to implement it because the program was more focused on deploying seats and measuring contractor performance against contractually specified incentives than determining whether the strategic mission outcomes used to justify the program were met, the GAO reported.

The GAO also said the Navy had met only three of 20 performance targets associated with the program's goals and nine related performance categories. "By not implementing its performance plan, the Navy has invested, and risks continuing to invest heavily, in a program that is not subject to effective performance management and has yet to produce expected results," the GAO said. The GAO also reported that the contractor's satisfaction of NMCI service level agreements - contractually specified performance expectations - has been mixed.

'Generally not been met'

"Since September 2004, while a significant percentage of agreements have been met for all types of seats, others have not consistently been met, and still others have generally not been met," the GAO said. "Navy measurement of agreement satisfaction shows that performance needed to receive contractual incentive payments for the most recent 5-month period was attained for about 55 to 59 percent of all eligible seats, which represents a significant drop from the previous 9-month period."

The GAO said there is the need for effective performance management, to include examining agreement satisfaction from multiple perspectives to target needed corrective actions and program changes.

GAO reported that NMCI's three customer groups - end users, commanders, and network operators - vary in their satisfaction with the program. More specifically, end user satisfaction surveys indicated that the percent of end users that met the Navy's definition of a satisfied user has remained consistently below the target of 85 percent: latest survey results categorize 74 percent as satisfied.

"Given that the Navy's definition of the term 'satisfied' includes many marginally satisfied and arguably somewhat dissatisfied users, this percentage represents the best case depiction of end user satisfaction," the GAO reported. "Survey responses from the other two customer groups show that both were not satisfied. GAO interviews with customers at shipyards and air depots also revealed dissatisfaction with NMCI. Without satisfied customers, the Navy will be challenged in meeting program goals."

To improve customer satisfaction, the GAO said, the Navy identified various initiatives that it described as completed, under way, or planned. "However," the GAO said, "the initiatives are not being guided by a documented plan(s), thus limiting their potential effectiveness. This means that after investing about 6 years and $3.7 billion, NMCI has yet to meet expectations, and whether it will is still unclear."

NMCI program officials say improving customer satisfaction is a program priority and that they have invested and continue to invest time and resources in a variety of improvements. For example, they said they have expanded NMCI capabilities in a number of ways, such as the implementation of broadband remote access.

Ellie