Lockheed Martin has been notified that the Office of the Secretary of Defense has given the U.S. Navy final authority for operational production of the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS).

A Milestone III production decision is required for all major Department of Defense command, control, communications or intelligence systems designated as Acquisition Category 1A. The ruling authorizes the Navy to direct Lockheed Martin to mass-produce, install and maintain the NSIPS computer application at all designated active and reserve locations. It also transfers program authority from the Defense Secretary's office to the Department of the Navy.

NSIPS is a web-based, enterprise-wide pay and personnel system developed under contract by Lockheed Martin Information Technology of Seabrook, Md. It is managed by the NSIPS program office, which developed the system under contract to the Navy's program office hosted at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Information Technology Center in New Orleans.

Dennis Pigg, the Navy's acting program manager, said, "NSIPS has been a long time coming, but the wait was definitely worth it. This becomes the first Navy program that integrates pay and personnel for the active duty and the naval reserve in a web environment. It also paves the way for the Navy to move to the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System."

Linda Gooden, president of Lockheed Martin Information Technology, said, "The decision for Milestone III is a tribute to a special partnership focused on mission success. NSIPS has from the beginning of its development been a team effort. We are truly honored to have been able to serve the Navy on this program and are excited to move forward together to complete its operational deployment."

NSIPS is the Navy's first integrated pay and personnel system and is the largest implementation of PeopleSoft(R) human resources software in the Federal government. It is also the first enterprise-wide application to be successfully hosted under the auspices of the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI.) NSIPS supports over 500,000 active duty and reserve forces sailors at 530 sites worldwide, including 169 ships at sea.

Begun in September 1997 under a $165 million contract to Lockheed Martin, the program was originally deployed in a client server version supporting pay and personnel functionality for the Naval Reserve and personnel actions for active duty forces. In March 2004 the Web enabled version of NSIPS was deployed to all 263 reserve locations. Following the Milestone III decision, the NSIPS program office is working with the Navy Personnel Command to finalize the deployment schedule for active duty locations around the world.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2003 sales of $31.8 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin