The Government Accountability Office said Tuesday the Navy must again review its Intranet program acquisition strategies.
GAO said in its report the Navy is acquiring program capabilities in increments, resulting in as many as 21 different contracts for its Next General Enterprise Network program.
NGEN was established in 2007 to replace and improve the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet system.
To date the Navy has spent around $434 million on NGEN which was supposed to launch in late 2011.
GAO said NGEN is supposed to be fully operational by 2014 and cost approximately $50 billion to maintain through 2025.
In a March 2011 report, GAO said the Navy did not have sufficient basis for knowing that it is pursuing the most cost-effective approach for acquiring NGEN capabilities.
In addition, the Navy previously conducted an analysis of alternative acquisition methods which produced several options.
However, GAO said the Navy chose an alternative option not considered in the analysis, a move it later said cost $4.7 billion more than any of the options produced.
GAO also said the Navy’s NGEN schedule does not provide a reliable basis for program execution.
In order to ensure NGEN capabilities are acquired in a cost-effective manner, GAO recommended the secretary of defense should limit further investment in NGEN until the Navy reviews its acquisition approach and reformats NGEN’s schedule.
