US Navy to Issue 10-Year IDIQ for Upgrade of Afloat Networks

The Navy plans on issuing a multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to facilitate the upgrade of existing afloat networks.

The Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services contract will have a ten-year ordering period and provide services such as software development, maintenance and delivery of production units and spare parts.

According to the Navy’s fiscal 2022 budget justification book, the CANES modernization effort covers hardware, software, processing, storage and end user devices for the Unclassified, Coalition, Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information enclaves, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

The consolidation and refresh of the afloat networks are expected to help the Navy implement distributed maritime operations.

Rob Carey, a former Navy chief information officer who now works for Cloudera Government Solutions, said the DMO concept “requires pervasive and trusted information dominance… secure trusted C2 across the fleet with both manned and unmanned vessels, along with joint forces operating in space, air, and land domains to support national security objectives.”

CANES has the potential to enable the Navy to become a data-centric force, Carey, a Potomac Officers Club member and past Wash100 winner, told Breaking Defense.

The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command will manage the CANES contract and is slated to issue a request for proposals in either the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021 or the first quarter of FY2022. 

Awards under the upcoming contract are scheduled to be issued starting in the fourth quarter of FY2022.