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Waiting for NMCI

The Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, better known as NMCI, has spawned numerous nicknames over its seven-year existence, most of them far less complimentary than “No More Contracted Infosystems,” one of the few clean enough for print.

It’s also become a verb — “I’ve been NMCIed!” — generally screamed by a Marine or sailor in frustration after a spectacular computer crash.

So when the officials who manage NMCI announced a user satisfaction rating of 83.8 percent in November, based on a quarterly survey issued by the private company contracted to run it, the results raised a few eyebrows across the services.

Ask the average Marine, sailor or civilian who uses NMCI for an opinion of the system and prepare to get an earful. While some report few problems, the majority have vivid recollections of waiting, waiting, waiting.

Waiting for an actual fix after a call to the help desk. Waiting up to 20 minutes for the computer to log on. Waiting, sometimes months, to receive administrative privileges to add vital software. Waiting for permission to add local or network printers. Waiting weeks to transfer accounts from one base to another.

Waiting for a modern computer system that operates up to present-day industry standards.

Officials with Electronic Data Systems, the corporation that won the 10-year, $9.3 billion NMCI contract that started in 2000, and Col. Lyle Cross, the program manager for NMCI, said the system has improved over the past seven years, which is shown by the results of the survey.

“We’re not saying everything is perfect,” said Nate Paier, EDS director for NMCI client satisfaction and quality. “But our track record is always satisfying users more and more.”

Cross said the increase in customer satisfaction is due to quicker response to problems with NMCI, a result of the help of a large number of probes distributed throughout the network this year. The probes alert NMCI staff members to systemic issues with the network.

However, both EDS and NMCI officials said they still depend on customer surveys the most to target problems. EDS issues the questionnaire four times a year to 189,000 Marines, sailors and civilians, randomly selected from the pool of 660,000 using it. Only 15,000 users completed the most recent survey, about 8 percent, but 7,000 of those took the additional time to write in personal comments.

‘Satisfied’ customer defined

Those who fill out the survey — which EDS and Cross refused to provide to Marine Corps Times because they said it could skew future results — rate each category on a 1-to-10 scale. After all the ratings are averaged, a score of 5.5 or higher is considered a satisfied customer.

The 83.8 percent satisfaction rating is an improvement on the 74 percent rating NMCI received last year but still falls below the program’s stated target of 85 percent, which NMCI has never reached since its inception.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report criticizing NMCI last year, citing the poor customer survey results and questioning exactly how satisfied a customer truly is if providing a rating of seven or less.

“Given that the Navy’s definition of the term ‘satisfied’ includes many marginally satisfied and arguably somewhat dissatisfied users,” the users with an average satisfaction rating between 5.5 and seven would be more accurately defined as only “marginally satisfied,” according to GAO’s report titled “DoD Needs to Ensure That Navy Marine Corps Intranet Program Is Meeting Goals and Satisfying Customers.”

The most recent survey showed 66 percent gave the program a rating of seven or above, according to an NMCI release.

Cpl. Joseph Staunches, who works at the traffic management office at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga., said the TMO shop at his last station at Camp Butler, Okinawa, has waited more than four months to get approval to update software used to track cargo.

“They are using the oldest software possible out there,” he said.

Francis Villamie, a retired gunnery sergeant who runs the education office at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., used the same computer without an upgrade for seven years. Not until two months ago did he receive his first computer upgrade, which finally helped alleviate the excruciating delays between operations.

“It would take me 20 minutes to boot up the system,” he said. “I would come in, in the morning, and turn on the computer and then have time to go have a cigarette and a cup of coffee before it would come up.”

Paier said EDS has continued to enhance and optimize the back end of the network’s infrastructure in the past year, adding more servers and improving firewalls, which might not be immediately noticed by Marines and sailors. EDS also upgraded more than 100,000 personal computers this year, which he said makes a tangible difference that users such as Villamie can see.

“We found that the performance bottleneck was happening at the PC or the desktop,” Paier said.

Slowed by security concerns

Some NMCI users are seeing improvements, such as Information Systems Technician 1st Class Kenyell Brown, who works for the Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command and rates herself as one of the satisfied. Many Marines and sailors forget how important and necessary the security features that sometimes slow the system are, she said.

“Working here really opened my eyes to security for networks,” Brown said.

Retired Cmdr. Randall Grau, who works at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command as a civilian, has heard the saying “I’ve been NMCIed,” but he said too many Marines and sailors expect their government computers to operate like their home computers.

“Too many people forget and don’t take into account the security considerations and threats involved,” he said.

Others said the security considerations could be satisfied without all the headaches that have been encountered since EDS took over the computer network from military personnel.

Requesting administrative privileges each time they need to add key pieces of software or printers to their computers is a common chore for Marines and sailors on NMCI. EDS is trying to cut down on wait times, said Kevin Durkin, EDS vice president for NMCI client advocacy and customer satisfaction.

While Marines and sailors wait for the necessary administrative privileges or the necessary contracted technician to respond to a computer problem, that’s time not being spent accomplishing the mission, said Sgt. Adam Dickerson, an administrative Marine with Headquarters Support Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“They’ll never live up to the standards of the Marine Corps,” he said. “It will never be as easy as just having Marines down the hall to fix it.”