During the CIO Town Hall at the DON IT Conference in June, I briefed the audience on several information technology cost-cutting measures and efficiencies that the Navy has successfully executed over the last year, and I will describe them for you now. The Navy continues to identify opportunities to promote IT efficiencies and reduce costs in anticipation of a slowdown in IT spending. The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance DDCIO(N) staff will lead efforts to establish policies, gather requirements, and drive IT efficiencies across the Navy. These efforts have increased visibility of our assets, both improving resource management and maximizing return on investment.
Over the past two years, Data Center Consolidation (DCC) efforts have led to the migration of 19 data centers and 582 servers to the Navy Enterprise Data Center. Approximately 61 data centers and over 3,000 servers will be migrated within the next several years to an enterprise hosting environment. Ultimately, the Navy Data Center Consolidation effort aims to improve our cyber security posture, reduce the Navy’s IT footprint, provide a standardized process for consolidation, and shift IT investments to more efficient computing platforms and technologies. As opportunities continue to be realized, the DCC effort is expected to significantly reduce the Navy’s operational costs for data centers.
Amid funding shortfalls, we continue to work toward ways to reduce the Navy’s overall IT budget through our IT efficiencies efforts and policies, such as Data Center Consolidation, Enterprise Software Licensing (ESL); the Multifunctional Device requirement to improve management and use (including procurement and disposal) of the department's networked and stand-alone copiers, printers, fax machines, scanners (CPFSs), multifunctional devices (MFDs) that combine CPFS functions in one device; Enterprise Portal Consolidation; Network Consolidation; IT Asset Management (ITAM); and Help Desk Consolidation (HDC).
Five ESLs have been successfully implemented throughout the Navy with the Oracle ESL realizing a cost savings of $22.6 million from the period of the third quarter of FY13 to the first quarter of FY14. Savings will increase over the Five Year Defense Program (FYDP) as we add new ESLs and re-negotiate existing ones. The MFD initiative is also on track to achieve savings over the FYDP.
In addition to reducing costs, consolidation of the DON’s services into a centralized solution is critical to enhancing an effective security posture and to ensuring mission effectiveness, interoperability and ease of use.
The Navy’s efforts in portal consolidation have successfully migrated 40 websites in FY13 to iNAVY, the Sharepoint Portal Solution, which continues to centralize web services and improve security. An additional 15 websites have been identified to migrate to iNavy in the coming year. This effort ensures that the Navy will be a true Internet service provider that can ensure continuity of operations, disaster recovery, and better provide information sharing for the warfighter.
The Navy’s Network Consolidation effort has identified 308 legacy and excepted networks outside the Navy Marine Corps Intranet/Continuity of Services (NCMI/COSC) contracts that will be migrated into the enterprise solution, Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) contract to enhance security and efficiencies.
Additionally, in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, we have completed the collection of all ITAM requirements for FY13; creating a baseline to track software across the Navy. ITAM efforts will help with future Enterprise Licensing Agreements to achieve savings over the FYDP. Similarly, another IT efficiency that envisions long-term savings is the Help Desk Consolidation effort which is currently collecting requirements to eliminate redundancies and integrate enterprise tools and security to streamline service desk resources.
The DDCIO(N) will continue to leverage Department of Defense IT consolidation efforts and enable greater information management and IT/cyberspace efficiencies.
Please visit the DON CIO website for more information about IT efficiencies policies and initiatives.
Mandatory Guidance Regarding Management of Department of the Navy Copiers, Printers, Fax Machines, Scanners, and Multi-Functional Devices - http://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?id=4394.
DON Server-Based System and Application Migration and Hosting Best Value Policy Guidance - http://www.doncio.navy.mil/contentview.aspx?id=4934.
Achieving Measurable Efficiencies Through Data Center Consolidation, System, and Application Rationalization Guidance - http://www.doncio.navy.mil/contentview.aspx?id=4163.
Mandatory Use of DON Enterprise Licensing Agreements - http://www.doncio.navy.mil/contentview.aspx?id=3777.