Travelocity for Command and Control

Three companies -- FGM Inc., Booz-Allen Hamilton and SAIC -- won contracts on Wednesday to provide systems engineering support to the Defense Information Systems Agency for development of the Defense Department's new command and control system Net-Enabled Command Capability.

NECC, which will replace the current Global Command and Control System, which is so old I did not have one gray hair when I first reported on it in the 1980s, is the brainchild of new retired Air Force Lt.. Gen Charles Croom, who ran DISA from 2005 to 2008.

Croom told me he wanted to develop a new-fangled command and control system that borrowed heavily from Web sites such as Travelocity, YouTube and MySpace.

Croom, now wearing veep stripes at Lockheed Martin Corp., told me folks can do everything they need to on Travelocity to prepare for a trip: reserve a flight, a hotel and rent a car all through one easy-to-use interface. He envisioned NECC offering a one-stop site for command and control stuff.

The three winners will compete for NECC task orders valued at about $60 million during a five-year period, and I hope the NECC mavens at DISA HQ will invite me over for a look-see real soon.