Boeing [BA] earlier this week submitted its proposal to develop the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program for the Navy, the company reported.
Responses to the request for proposals (RFP), which went out April 2, were due yesterday. The Navy’s plan is to initially have two awards, then downselect to a single bidder. The process will run roughly 14 months, resulting in a downselect sometime in 2010 (Defense Daily, April 8).
In addition to Boeing, a number of defense companies are expected to bid on CANES including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin [LMT], Northrop Grumman [NOC], and Raytheon [RTN].
CANES will reduce the information technology infrastructure on naval vessels while implementing a common computing environment across shipboard networks.
The Navy issued its RFP in early April.
The Navy’s Program Executive Office, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (PEO C4I), is expected to award the system design and development contract by the end of this year. In order to support this customer, Boeing has opened a CANES program office in the Liberty Station area of San Diego, the company said.
“Our proposal offers a CANES solution to the Navy that can be deployed quickly, reduces life-cycle costs, and is reconfigurable to support changing missions,” Nan Bouchard, vice president and general manager of Boeing C3 Networks said. “Boeing understands the Navy’s requirements and is fully committed to its vision for CANES.”
The Boeing proposal enables the Navy to deploy an innovative, low-cost, cross-domain solution that allows data to be seamlessly accessed or transferred between different security levels. Boeing’s IT-related experience includes managing one of the world’s largest global networks that securely connects employees, customers, partners and suppliers worldwide, and developing open architecture and battlespace networking solutions for the United States military., the company said.