The Defense Department Inspector General has cast a wary eye on the Air Force’s Network-Centric Solutions contract—with a potential ceiling of up to $9 billion—because the IG found it had incomplete information assurance requirements. A recent IG report says that task orders written under this contract may (1) not support vital systems during a contingency; (2) allow classified information to fall into the hands of foreign government entities; and (3) not ensure the physical security of either information or federal facilities. According to the IG, the Air Force “concurred and took action to correct the contracting omissions and inconsistencies.” Stand by because this is just the first IG report on this mammoth contract that’s expected to provide not only the Air Force but other DOD and federal agencies a “primary source” of information technology networking equipment and system engineering, installation, integration, operations, and maintenance.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.