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Must Read- Thomas A Cellucci-Letter to Donald Trump. PDF link

Source:http://bravatek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/The_Value_of_Interoperability_April2017.pdf

April 25, 2017
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Being able to exchange and trust information is critical to the security of our nation and the
quality of life of all Americans. Each year, the public and private sectors invest billions in
network technology, but a third of that money ends up being wasted. This is because their
various computer systems are incapable of communicating with each other – and then they
must spend even more to make those systems interoperate.
I’m sure you are receiving many proposals on how to save money and make the
government work more efficiently. The nonprofit Network Centric Operations Industry
Consortium is offering our expertise to assist your administration in developing the
strategies that will ensure widespread interoperability, which will help reduce cost, increase
capability, improve performance, and save lives.
NCOIC was founded in 2004 by business leaders who understand all markets require
interoperable solutions. The contributors to the attached paper by NCOIC are senior leaders
from the government, DoD and health care. All of us have worked on solving
interoperability issues for decades.
As a result of our efforts with Fortune 100 companies and government agencies such as the
Federal Aviation Administration and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NCOIC has
developed approaches for creating interoperable environments – and also for helping
different teams communicate with each other as they prepare for interoperability.
Ours is not an expensive methodology. It requires that government and government
contractors understand requirements and verify interoperability before purchase. With
leadership provided by the government, this can be imbedded in the technology
development and procurement plans of thousands of companies and agencies in a range of
markets.
Interoperability is not a fleeting concept. In this age of information and interdependence, it
is foundational to our well-being and success. NCOIC is anxious to help you in providing
focus to government agencies and incentivizing industry to achieve widespread
interoperability so we can save money and improve efficiency in countless ways.
Sincerely,
Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege, Jr. (USAF, Ret)
Chief Executive Officer
NCOIC
1301 Dove St, Suite 890
Newport Beach, CA 92660
[e-mail]
www.NCOIC.org
© 2017 Network Centric Operations
Industry Consortium (NCOIC®)
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Interoperability: Saving Lives and Money
Introduction
Each year, our military, government and private
industry spend billions and billions of dollars on
information technology, but more than 30% of the
money goes just to getting data shared between
computer systems. These are unnecessary
expenditures that also waste time, delay action, and
have many negative effects on key sectors such as
defense, security and healthcare – and on our
society. Instead, by using an approach known as
cross-domain interoperability, we can significantly
reduce costs and speed up the exchange of vital
information.
Cross-domain interoperability refers to the ability to
move data seamlessly within and between agencies,
organizations, businesses, industries and countries.
This allows partners to share information and
resources, promotes collaboration, improves
decision-making, and leads to greater organizational
success. For example, in the case of a disaster, crisis
or humanitarian mission, cross-domain
interoperability allows multi-national responders
using different technologies to communicate
quickly and save precious time and lives.
The benefits of sharing resources are well
understood, as it reduces duplication, creates
efficiencies, and increases productivity for each
partner. This cross-domain, sharing philosophy is
the foundation of the game-changing Internet of
Things (IoT), which has already created millions of
new capabilities for users around the world.
Despite good intentions, organizations in both the
public and private sectors have not positioned
themselves to take advantage of the tremendous
potential of cross-domain interoperability. More
than $180 billion is spent each year to enable
defense and security IT products and services to
operate together – a high price tag for a “patch.”
Our government acquisition strategies need to
change to reflect an interoperable approach, so that
each new purchase meets technological
requirements, saves time and money, and supports
user readiness and performance from day one.
Costly Re-work and Waste
Government agencies and non-governmental
organizations operate using their own processes,
which too often result in negative consequences.
Examples of proprietary processes that created the
need for product modifications and costly
equipment integration are the F-22, F-35 and E-8C
Joint STARS platforms. Each system was built by
the U.S. Air Force without interoperability in mind.
Two of the most advanced fighter aircraft with
integrated sensors were not designed to work
together. The Joint STARS downlink had to be
redesigned to support existing military systems. In
each case, if the need for cross-domain
interoperability had been built into the process,
greater capability would have been achieved and
future integration costs eliminated.
The healthcare marketplace offers another example
of the lack of cross-domain approaches. When
service members move from active to veteran
status, their health data requires a completely
separate and non-interoperable healthcare IT
system. The practice of two separate healthcare
systems defies common logic, impacts lives, and is
very expensive. Experts estimate that creating
greater interoperability could reduce healthcare
spending by $30 billion, a significant offset of
rising costs.
Interoperability Implementation
Historically, technology has been viewed as the
primary enabler of interoperability – and making a
technical change is considered the quickest path to
achieving an interoperable solution. But as is
typically the case, a single technical solution fails
completely or falls significantly short of the
objective, primarily because it has become obsolete
by the time it is implemented. Experience has
shown that it is actually non-technical issues that
present the biggest hurdles in implementing
interoperability.
Of course, technology is foundational in the thought
process, but it is not a hard-and-fast fixed
requirement -- this is a basic flaw in many current
practices. Organizations should be addressing four
interrelated keystones to create a cross-domain
interoperable environment: technology, governance,
business value and culture.
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When they have been properly included in the
planning and programming process, these four
keystones enable lasting interoperability.
Technology has the greatest number of variables
and is the easiest to modify. Culture is the most
difficult and least flexible of the keystones – studies
in organizational dynamics have shown it takes 10
years to effectively change a culture. Governance
and business value vary based on government and
market shifts.
Balancing the four keystones
ensures successful crossdomain
solutions. Neutral
processes are also critical --
and are the only way to get
rival factions or
organizations with noncompatible
elements to
work together.
NCOIC Expertise and Proven Approach
The nonprofit Network Centric Operations Industry
Consortium (NCOIC) has developed a proven
framework and approach for evaluating these
challenges and implementing cross-domain
interoperability.
Founded in 2004, NCOIC is a global industry and
government organization that by law cannot market
the products and services of its members -- the only
thing NCOIC is allowed to market is the
interoperability of products and services.
Thanks to its industry representation, NCOIC has
excellent information regarding the defense and
security marketplaces. NCOIC experts have served
in leadership roles on the U2, Airborne Warning
and Control System (AWACS), RC-135V/W Rivet
Joint, and other programs. They have similar stories
of cost factors that could have been alleviated using
interoperability-friendly practices.
NCOIC long ago determined that new integration
costs for upgrading platforms were at least 30% of
the entire program lifecycle cost. When presented
with these findings, Boeing and Lockheed
executives thought the numbers appeared low, as
did leaders from the U.S. Defense Information
Systems and the NATO Military Committee. They
know from their experience that failing to include
interoperability requirements in the original design
of a system will increase the lifecycle cost.
Retrofitting always costs more than when a
capability is included in the original manufacturing
process -- that is common knowledge in industry
and government, but is often considered “part of
doing business.”
The NCOIC approach to implementing crossdomain
interoperability uses industry and its
competitive nature to create checks and balances,
ensure impartiality and enhance business value.
NCOIC’s process can be embedded in 18 months
and organizations can expect returns to lower
integration costs across the effected domains up to
30% in two to five years.
Recommendation
Industry must be incentivized to make interoperable
IT products and services -- requiring this in the
acquisition system will provide the necessary
encouragement. Using the neutral and impartial
NCOIC approach that crosses agencies and
markets, government cannot only incentivize
businesses, but improve their profitability. Dealing
with challenges in government and agency cultures
will be harder. But given the new administration’s
goal of business value and government efficiency,
the NCOIC team looks forward to success.
Cross-domain interoperability -- the seamless flow
of trusted information between systems to where
it’s needed most -- is NCOIC’s sole focus. We
believe we now have a rare opportunity to ensure
that interoperability is mandated in government
acquisition and operations, resulting in significant
savings of time, money and lives. NCOIC has
proven methods of achieving interoperability
efficiencies and would be pleased to help with this
opportunity at a critical time in our nation’s history.
For Information, Contact:
The Hon., Dr. Thomas A. Cellucci
[e-mail]
1-866-490-8590