First NMCI tests to be finished by April's end

The Navy is aiming to complete testing of the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet by the end of April and receive permission from the Defense Department to add 100,000 more seats to the program.

Electronic Data Systems Corp., the lead contractor on the $6.9 billion outsourcing program, has assumed responsibility for 48,000 seats, said Rear Adm. Charles Munns, the program director, at an NMCI press briefing April 1.

Contractor testing and evaluation has been completed at the Naval Air Facility, Washington. Testing is still under way at the Naval Air Station, Lemoore, Calif., and the Naval Air Command at Patuxent River, Md. It is expected to be done by the end of the month, Munns said.

At all three sites, the Navy has collected almost 9,000 applications and is working with EDS to determine which applications will be used with NMCI and which will be discarded.

Contractor testing involves checking to see if the portal is secure, reliable and compatible with other defense systems and whether service-level agreements are being met.

After contractor testing is complete, the Defense Department will review the findings. If NMCI passes, the Navy will be allowed to add the 100,000 seats. Further testing will continue until all of the planned 360,000 seats are installed.

Munns recently was appointed NMCI's director, fulfilling a congressional mandate to name a single Navy program manager to oversee the project.

NMCI will consolidate 200 networks into an intranet linking more than 360,000 desktop PCs.