Air Force can't do ERP

Tom Paine
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X-37B (courtesy US Air Force)

The US Air Force can do some amazing things. Just yesterday, it launched a classified military space plane (the X-37B) into orbit. And recent reports suggest the Air Force may be developing stealth drones. But it apparently can't successfully implement something that doesn't even leave the ground - a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system.

The Air Force recently announced it was cancelling the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) program, after a $1 billion investment. The program was built around Oracle ERP software, and CSC was the lead systems integrator. The ECSS program was established about seven years ago to streamline its current weapons systems availability logistics process that includes hundreds of logistics systems. Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ), chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Dec. 5 seeking an explanation.

Not that this is problem is unique to the Air Force. Numerous other DoD ERP projects have struggled, including a massive one for the Army based on SAP software. This suggests the problem has to do more with the inherent complexity of the military enterprise, as well as the client's difficulties in reaching group decisions.




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Newtown-based Freedom OSS named subcontractor to Lockheed Martin on Army Private Cloud project

Tom Paine

Newtown-based Freedom OSS has been named a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin on a project to build a Private Cloud environment for the Army, according to a Freedom OSS press release issued last month. The project aims to consolidate Army data centers from more than 200 to fewer than 20, acccording to the Army's original RFI for the contract. Other vendors for the contract, which has an anticipated period of performance of one year with four optional one-year periods and an estimated ceiling of $249.8 million, include IBM, HP Enterprise Services, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.

I didn't know exactly what had happened to this company. About one and 1/2 years ago I wrote a brief note about the interesting things Freedom OSS was doing in the Cloud with SAP and Amazon Web Services. Then it was like they almost disappeared for a while, and I couldn't find anything about them. The press release gives no indication of how much of the Lockheed portion of the contract might involve Freedom OSS.

Freedom OSS builds cloud platforms for customers with an emphasis on meeting security and compliance requirements.



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