Navy takes first step to craft NGEN network hardware recompete

The Navy has started on its work on the next iteration of the hardware portion of NGEN – the service branch’s primary enterprise IT network that also reaches into the Marine Corps.

Approximately 750,000 Navy and 260,000 Marine Corps personnel use the Next Generation Enterprise Network that includes end user devices, enterprise infrastructure, networking hardware, commercial software, licenses, subscriptions and lifecycle services.

The Navy awarded the current NGEN-R hardware contract to HP Inc.’s federal subsidiary in 2019, then chose Leidos for the much larger software- and systems integration-focused piece in 2020.

By releasing this sources sought notice Tuesday, the Navy is embarking on initial market research and acquisition planning efforts to inform how it sets up the hardware recompete that will focus on supply chain management.

Navy leaders are specifically seeking ideas from industry into how the service branch can incorporate commercial supply chain practices, technologies and business models into IT product delivery functions.

Operational support services will not be in the scope of the recompete, which the Navy could use for acquiring engineering services that aid in product and service design activities.

The request for information describes the Navy’s current environment as being bogged down by issues related to acquisition-to-delivery cycle times, limited end-to-end visibility, administrative friction, and supply-chain risk exposure.

The RFI outlines five aspects of what the Navy envisions as a “good” operational environment and structured its questionnaire for industry around those points:

• An authorized user with a validated need can identify an approved product, place an order, and receive it at the required location within a commercially competitive timeframe, with minimal intermediate paperwork or manual hand-offs.
• The government retains continuous, authoritative visibility of every asset, entitlement, warranty, and open order from demand signal through disposition, and can act on that information without waiting for contractor-generated reports.
• Routine transactions require little or no centralized government intervention once policy and catalog guardrails are set.
• Supply chain risks that threaten availability, integrity, authenticity, security, cost, or delivery are identified early enough to protect mission timelines.
• The government can transition providers, technologies, or service models without loss of accountability, open-order continuity, warranty coverage, or historical data.

Responses to the RFI are due by 3 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 14.

HPI Federal has received $856 million in order volume to-date against the current NGEN-R End User Hardware contract that is slated to sunset in March 2029, according to GovTribe data.