Fort Belvoir, Va. - The Defense Logistics Agency and U.S. Transportation Command are moving forward with their goal to provide warfighters the best information technology tools for supply and transportation.

The effort to converge DLA's Integrated Data Environment (IDE) with USTRANSCOM's Global Transportation Network (GTN) is about to become reality. The program is called IGC, with I and G representing the two existing systems' acronyms, and C reflecting their convergence. The contract award was issued June 26, but work was delayed due to a contract award protest that was recently withdrawn

The purpose of this convergence effort is to provide a single place for access to common data, business services and information regarding material asset visibility, whether in-storage or in-transit, and to establish and provide common, cohesive, integrated data services for the management of supply, distribution, and logistics information for the combatant commands, the military services, and other federal agencies.

This first development contract award in support of the IGC program combines the infrastructure and service oriented architecture (SOA) of DLA's IDE and the data and applications supporting USTRANSCOM's GTN capabilities.

Lockheed-Martin Corporation and its teaming partners will support and converge DLA's IDE and USTRANSCOM's GTN programs under a contract valued at $89 million if all options are awarded.

"DLA and USTRANSCOM have worked closely on the IGC program for the last 18 months. This award represents a significant accomplishment in our collective efforts to enable the military to more collaboratively and cost-effectively improve end-to-end supply visibility, responsiveness, decision-making, service and logistics processes," said Army Lt. Gen. Robert T. Dail, DLA Director.

In response to the DOD's development of net-centric warfighting, USTRANSCOM, in its role as the Defense Department's Distribution Process Owner (DPO), is implementing a SOA-based approach to data sharing and enterprise services. IGC will provide the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise a capability that provides the backbone of USTRANSCOM's Corporate Services Vision.

Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, deputy commander, USTRANSCOM said, "this tighter integration will enable the DPO and DLA to provide the warfighter with supplies faster and more efficiently, with greater visibility and transparency - improving reliability and trust for the warfighter."

There are four task areas included in the IGC program, and DLA and USTRANSCOM have adopted an innovative contracting approach to support the program.

Task Area I is defined as Core IGC Services and will focus on migrating GTN from its current application interface and database to a newer version. Task Area II, Sustainment Services, will provide support for existing GTN P3I (GTN pre-planned product improvements) as well as existing IDE capabilities.

Task Area III covers Extended Core Services and will be used to extend existing IDE and GTN capabilities. All three of these Task Areas are included in the June 26 contract awarded to the Lockheed-Martin team. Task Area IV addresses Front-end Applications Development work in support of the converged program, and multiple awards under this task area are scheduled to be made during the coming weeks.

DLA is DOD's largest logistics combat support agency. It provides supply support and technical and logistics services to the U.S. military services and several federal civilian agencies. Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., the agency is the one source for nearly every consumable item, whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations, inside the Department of Defense. For more information on DLA, please visit www.dla.mil.

USTRANSCOM, at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., provides air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war and is responsible for creating and implementing world-class global deployment and distribution solutions in support of president, secretary of defense, and combatant commander-assigned missions. More specifically, as the DPO, USTRANSCOM coordinates and oversees the DOD end-to-end distribution system to develop distribution process improvements that enhance the defense logistics and global supply chain management system. For information on USTRANSCOM, please visit www.transcom.mil.
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