U.S. security agency decides to outsource IT
|
|||
 | |||
|
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nation's top-secret spy organization last week divulged a big secret of its own: The National Security Agency admitted it is struggling to remain high-tech in a world where hiring IT staff is expensive and hard.
In acknowledging this problem, the NSA announced a plan to turn over much of its computer and network operations to hired hands with a 10-year contract that could be worth $5 billion. The agency has about 40,000 employees doing jobs like analyzing intercepted communications and code breaking.
The massive outsourcing would be an unprecedented move, but it is one that NSA Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden says the agency must undertake to continue functioning.
"It is critical that we have a robust and reliable infrastructure capable of supporting our missions," Hayden says. "Explosive growth in the global network and new technologies make our partnership with industry more vital to the NSA's success than ever before."
In an internal IT review called Project Groundbreaker, the NSA concluded it can outsource management in areas such as distributed computing, networks, telephony and, surprisingly, enterprise-security management. But supercomputers and satellite ground stations that the agency operates around the world are not on the list.
Contract details
The NSA plans to award the 10-year outsourcing contract by next spring to a single bidder that will have a team of subcontractors in tow. NSA officials say the agency is in discussion with three possible contractors but declined to name them.
EDS, CSC, Lockheed Martin, IBM, PRC and Unisys are among the government's largest outsourcing service providers, and are likely to be in discussions with the NSA on the deal, according to Federal Sources, a consultancy in McLean, Va.
In a practice not unusual in outsourcing deals in the private sector, the NSA intends to shed as many as 1,500 of its own IT employees. However, the NSA will require the winning bidder to offer jobs to all displaced workers, who would then face a choice of accepting or being laid off.
"By possibly moving NSA's information technology infrastructure professionals to industry, employees will be afforded the opportunity for employment with an industry leader in the employees' respective career fields," says an NSA source.
The NSA isn't the only government agency worrying about its IT future.
The Navy, Army and Air Force are struggling to retain the best IT personnel, who now work in tough conditions and usually earn far less than they could in private industry. But the military is losing that fight, according to officials who spoke during last week's Defense Department Electronic Commerce Day, a modestly attended event meant to highlight e-commerce.
"It's an investment in people, but you have to be realistic about several facts," said Stan Soloway, the Pentagon's deputy undersecretary for acquisition reform.
"Our workforce is diminishing 50% in the next few years due to retirement and other factors,"he said. "We need to build the next generation of professionals in the Defense Department with these skills. But how many IT people are we going to have in the government?"
The military is "competing with Sun, Microsoft and Yahoo for people with technical skills," Soloway said. Some Navy captains don't even like to bring their ships into port because headhunters are lined up on the docks to lure IT staff away, he added. "And people are going. We're having a retention problem."
Soloway told of an Army commander who saw one of his top IT people offered a $30,000 raise by three companies. When the Army tried to keep him with a one-time $30,000 bonus, the companies all came back with higher offers.
"We just can't compete anymore, and I don't think we should try," said Paul Brubaker, deputy chief information officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. "My answer is outsource it."
The civilian sector faces similar challenges, said Susan DeSandre, vice president for B2B ConsumerConnect at Ford Motor Co., another participant on the Electronic Commerce Day panel.
She said the auto industry is much like the military because it's "very bureaucratic, conservative, and noted for being risk-averse." But Ford routinely outsources because it makes sense financially, she said.
RELATED LINKS
