U.S. Navy Awards $2.5 Billion in CANES Contracts

The U.S. Navy has announced that BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland (N00039-14-D-0121); General Dynamics C4 Systems, Taunton, Massachusetts (N00039-14-D-0122); Global Technical Systems, Virginia Beach, Virginia, small business (N00039-14-D-0123); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia (N00039-14-D-0124); and Serco Inc., Reston, Virginia (N00039-14-D-0125), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) production units.

The estimated, cumulative value of the multiple award contract is $2,529,500,000. CANES serves as the bridge to the future of Navy afloat networks, consolidating existing legacy and standalone networks, providing the necessary infrastructure for applications, systems and services to operate in the tactical domain. CANES delivers its capabilities within a single complete system, bringing the necessary infrastructure that will enable timely and interoperable information exchange among tactical, support and nontactical or administrative users, applications and information technology platforms.

"The operating systems that exist today on some of those legacy networks are not sustainable. CANES allows us to deploy current operating systems and then upgrade or stay current with future changes to those operating systems in a more cost-effective and timely way," said Rear Adm. Christian Becker, USN, PEO C4I.
 

"As we deploy CANES, we create a platform where we can increase our speed to capability, and where we can control more effectively our cost of capabilities that ride on top of that platform. And then, of course, that brings with it our ability to defend our capabilities—our cybersecurity posture—in ways that are more effective both for cost and the mission," he said.
 

This contract has an eight-year ordering period up to the contract award amount. There are no options. Work is expected to be completed by August 2022. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as individual delivery orders are issued. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, is the contracting activity.
 

Northrop Grumman beat out rival Lockheed Martin for the approximate $637 million limited production contract awarded in 2012. The way the CANES program is structured, it has been a very intensely competitive environment, Navy and industry officials say.
 

The CANES program represents a new business model for delivering capability to the fleet, Navy officials say. The program consolidates five legacy networks into one, which enhances operational effectiveness and provides better quality of life for deployed sailors. The approach allows the fleet to streamline logistics support, training and operating procedures. Additionally, CANES offers a common computing environment with continual hardware and software upgrades. Navy officials expect to update software every two years and hardware every four years. Furthermore, minor insertions will be executed on four-year cycles and major insertions on eight-year cycles to reduce obsolescence.