New strategy documents will modify the Navy acquisition process for information technology so that it'll be faster, said Department of Navy Chief Information Officer Rob Carey.

"Today's acquisition processes best support the acquisition of aircraft and ships but don't' necessarily support IT cycle times and the realities of the cyber threats we face," he said in an recent podcast.

Carey said that current acquisition regulations "allow for tailoring, and we must do so."

The new approaches will be unveiled in a new strategy document that supports the Naval Network Environment 2016, Cary added. NNE is the name the Navy has given to its portion of the Global Information Grid; Navy plans call for consolidated afloat and ashore networks to have access to core universal services and applications.

Perhaps the most visible NNE effort is the shutdown of massive ashore IT outsourcing contract NMCI and the transition to its successor contract, NGEN, set to occur this fall. The Navy awarded a consolidated afloat network consolidation contract to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on March 4 as part of its Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) effort.

For more:
- listen to DON CIO Rob Carey's podcast
- Read the NNE 2016 strategic definition, scope and strategy paper (.pdf)

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