US Navy Leaning on CANES to Integrate Shipboard Networks
Mar 08, 2012 18:10 EST
(click to view full)
The US Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program is designed to streamline and update shipboard networks to improve interoperability across the fleet. It will replace 5 shipboard legacy network programs to provide the common computing environment on board for command, control, intelligence and logistics. The primary goal of the CANES program is to build a secure shipboard network required for naval and joint operations, which is much easier when you consolidate and reduce the number of shipboard networks. That consolidation can also lower costs and maintenance requirements and reduce training needs, if good choices are made. The intent is to build it as an Infrastructure and Platform as a Service (IaaS / PaaS) and field it on a rolling 4-year hardware baseline and a 2-year software baseline.
In 2010, the US Navy awarded 2 contracts, with a potential value of $1.7 billion, for the design and development of the CANES common computing environment. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are competing, and a single prime contractor was expected to be picked in 2011. It took until early 2012, but Northrop Grumman won.
Contracts and Key Events
CANES is currently in the Engineering & Manufacturing Development phase, which will include a declared winner in the competition between Lockheed Martin & Northrop Grumman. If CANES receives Milestone C approval to enter the Production & Deployment phase, introduction to the fleet will begin with installs in 2012 on unit level ships with 2 Engineering Development Model installations, followed by Limited Deployment installations in 2012 that cover force level ships, shore sites, and additional unit level ships. If the program remains on schedule, CANES would ultimately be deployed to more than 190 ships, submarines and Maritime Operations Centers by 2021.
Feb 13/12: Lockheed Martin files a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), claiming “flaws in the evaluation process preclude consideration of the best solution for the customer”, without elaborating further.
Feb 13/12: The US Navy announces its FY13 plans to procure 21 afloat units, 6 ashore units, 1 unit of technical training equipment (TTE), integration, with associated costs for pre-installation design and activity drawings, and installation. Funds are also requested for continued development on Platform Set 3 and 4 baselines, Developmental Testing and Initial Operational Testing & Evaluation on a unit level platform in support of Full Deployment Decision in FY 2013.
The Navy is asking for $435M (CANES + CANES Intell P-40s) for the year. This boils down to an average unit cost of about $10.9M. Installation costs that can vary from less than $5M to more than $12M apiece, depending on ship class, level of the platform, variant of predecessor system the hull currently has installed (ISNS Alpha/Charlie/Delta/Legacy), and geographic location of the installation. Spending for following years through the current FYDP stays in the $450M ballpark.
In FY12 CANES is procuring for: DDG (11), LHD (1), CVN (1). In FY13 CANES is procuring: DDG (18), CG (3), LHD (2), LSD (2) CVN (2). FY13 PB Navy Highlights | Justification book [PDFs].
Feb 1/12: Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corp. in Reston, VA beats Lockheed Martin for the CANES contract down-select, whose maximum value is $637.8 million if all options are exercised. It will begin with a $36.7 million delivery order under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract, with other delivery orders to follow. Northrop Grumman will provide the 1st CANES common computing environment guided missile destroyer (DDG) variant; DDG variant production units; and the 1st multipurpose amphibious assault ship variant.
Work will be performed in San Diego, CA, and is expected to be complete by September 2012, or September 2013 if all contract options are exercised. US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, CA manages the contract (N00039-10-D-0028).
Sept 12/11: Lockheed Martin has submitted its final CANES proposal to the US Navy. Lockheed Martin.
July 27/11: US Navy SPAWAR provides an update on CANES, which has just completed its Critical Design Reviews for both competing systems. A Test Readiness Review will be followed by formal Contractor System Integration Test, and selection of a single CANES winner.
The failure of the last Congress to pass a budget has delayed CANES by 5 months, and forced it to change its schedule. They still believe that the major milestones set out in the Milestone B approval can be achieved; the 1st CANES installation on a fleet destroyer is now planned for late in FY 2012 (late summer 2012).
Jan 10/11: The CANES program receives Milestone B approval, beginning the program’s Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, and green-lighting the production of 4 limited fielding units. Those units are for operational and training use, and will not be installed anywhere after the operational assessment and Milestone C approval.
SPAWAR cites CANES as an example of the Pentagon’s recent “Better Buying Power” criteria, designed to: (1) Target Affordability and Control Cost Growth (2) Incentivize Productivity and Innovation in Industry (3) Promote Real Competition (4) Improve Tradecraft in Services Acquisition and (5) Reduce Non-Productive Processes and Bureaucracy. Or at least, Tactical Networks Program Office program manager, Navy Capt. D.J. LeGoff, says it meets the spirit and intent of what the Department of Defense wants acquisition programs to be doing.” US NAVY PEO C4I (SPAWAR) release [PDF].
Aug 16/10: Northrop Grumman announces a successful 2-day Preliminary Design Review at its CANES program office in San Diego, CA. The PDR and subsequent approval of the CANES design are milestone along the way to the CANES critical design review later this year, and planned shipboard installation of the first system in fiscal year 2012.
Northrop Grumman team members contributing to the Navy PDR included IBM Global Business Services, as Northrop Grumman’s major technology and services partner on CANES; and small-business partners Atlas Technologies, Beatty and Company Computing, Juno Technologies, Syzygy Technologies, and CenterBeam.
March 4/10: Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp. in Reston, VA won a $17.4 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract (N00039-10-D-0028) for design and development of the US Navy’s CANES common computing environment. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring its cumulative value to $775.3 million.
Northrop Grumman’s CANES team includes IBM Corp., as well as small-business partners Atlas Technologies in Charleston, SC; Beatty and Company Computing, Juno Technologies, and Syzygy Technologies, all based in San Diego, CA; and CenterBeam in San Jose, CA. Northrop Grumman will perform the work at its Command and Control (C2) Futures Lab in San Diego, CA and expects to complete it by April 2011. If all options are exercised, work could continue until September 2014.
March 4/10: Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems in San Diego, CA won a $15 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract (N0039-10-D-0027) for design and development of the CANES common computing environment. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring its cumulative value to an estimated $936.9 million.
Lockheed Martin’s CANES team includes General Dynamics, ViaSat, Harris Corp. and American Systems Corp. Lockheed Martin will perform work on the CANES in San Diego and is expects to complete the work by April 2011. If all options are exercised, work could continue until September 2014.
These contracts were competitively procured with 4 offers received via the FedBizOpps Web site and the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central Web site. The Space and Naval Warfare System Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego manages the contracts. FedBizOpps announcement | SPAWAR E-Commerce announcement .
Additional Readings
- US Navy SPAWAR – CANES Application Integration
- US Navy CHIPS Magazine (December 2007) – The CANES Initiative: Bringing the Navy Warfighter onto the Global Information Grid [PDF]
- Northrop Grumman – CANES Brochure [PDF]
