HP Holds Navy Network ‘Hostage’ for $3.3 Billion | Danger Room | Wired.com

[chadbag]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/hp-holds-navy-network-hostage/


Someone screwed up the original negotiations that let EDS/HP "own" the network "blueprints". When I am hired on a contract to do SW development, the paying customer owns the SW IP. It is always written up that way.

[RD62]

“HP is holding the Navy hostage, and there isn’t a peep about it,” one Department of the Navy civilian tells Danger Room. “We basically had two recourses: pay, or send in the Marines.”


Then I say, "Send in the Damn Marines!". It's one thing to pay a private company to manage your networks, etc. It's another to buy out the equipment, software, etc. It's yet another to blatantly rip of the military.

How about the Navy doesn't accidentally bomb their corporate headquarters and we call it even.

[ryanm]

This is more complicated than what is being explained in the article. EDS underbid the contract severely to start with and bled out the ass for years with NMCI. As the requirements grew, they were not able to keep scope-creep under control and what started as a good idea turned into a nightmare--for both sides. The provision for "other services as required" destroyed this contract. The service level agreements are abysmal, and the response to problems is also similarly not world-class. This was an example of something that could have been done correctly had both the contractor (EDS) and the military worked together towards meeting realistic goals instead of strictly going for the lowest bid and the delivering substandard service. Basically, once the can of worms was opened there was no going back for either side and now they have a huge mess to manage/maintain. Its an O&M nightmare to say the least and its going to cost the Government even more money to sort out than the numbers being tossed around. I know people that work on both sides of this issue and it is painful for all involved.

The Navy would be bombing itself in Herndon. This is a joint effort and EDS/HP HQ is filled with military, contract and civilian government personnel doing a variety of missions--not just NMCI. I worked in that building for a while and there are a lot of good people doing excellent work there despite the NMCI debacle. There is also an ajoining FAA facility.

[Alex V]

time to switch to Mac ;)