Final decisions on the project’s future haven’t been made, according to the Air Force. It is drawing up a plan for how to restart the work and is to report its plan to Congress in August, rather than this month, as Air Force officials had previously hoped.
That plan will spell out the latest estimate of the program’s costs, projected completion date, how much of the work will be contracted out, and whether new bids will be sought to finish the project.
The ambitious program, already at least four years behind schedule, would integrate logistics management and movement of equipment and supplies across the Air Force. The goal is to install one new computer system to replace about 240 old, smaller systems.
Computer Sciences employees had accounted for about two-thirds of the project’s peak local work force of 510 people, with subcontractors providing the remainder.
CSC spokeswoman Heather Williams declined on Wednesday to say whether the company would compete for the contract if the Air Force should decide to seek new bids.
The Air Force said approximately $1 billion has been spent on the ECSS project so far, including $527 million paid to CSC. Officials had hoped to have the system operational by 2017, a slippage from a formerly startup date of 2013.
The Air Force currently estimates total spending of $5.2 billion on the project from 2004 through 2027, including $3.5 billion for development and upgrades and $1.7 billion for operations and maintenance.
It forecasts a $13 billion “return on investment” over that same period by eliminating expenses of at least $325 million annually for the older computer systems and by having one unified system that could track and identify all assets, their status and condition. The Air Force said it expects to reduce inefficiency and excess ordering of equipment and supplies.
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