Partnet eCommerce Suite

According to the Partnet eCommerce Suite website, "around the globe, DOD EMALL provides a single-entry point for 80,000 registered users to search and purchase from a virtual catalog of over 50 million items. DOD EMALL is a highly-available system employing sophisticated networking, systems hardware, and software-based clustering to enable redundancy, scaling, and load balancing.

Whether you are building your first eCommerce site or migrating an existing platform to Magento, Partnet can help. Our sites can be designed, built, and refined to provide the following benefits:

• Reduced cost of good and services 
• Leveraged buying power 
• Greater convenience for buyers and sellers 
• Visibility into multiple product sources 
• Comparison shopping 
• Data mining, analysis, and reporting 
• Enforcement of Federally-mandated purchasing rules

Launched in 1992 as a research effort for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Partnet has long been one of our Government’s most trusted software and technology partners. Before Netscape or Internet Explorer, Partnet developed its own browser to allow engineers to source parts located in remote databases. Partnet obtained a patent for searching distributed databases over the Internet. Today this patent is used by nearly all Internet companies that crawl the web, including Amazon, Yahoo, and Google.

It was also in these early days that Partnet pioneered the concept of Internet sourcing, and remains a trusted provider of comprehensive, flexible and targeted web-based solutions for the U.S. Federal Government, specifically the Department of Defense. The company’s software and technology solutions facilitate secure and reliable communication within the government and between the government and the commercial world; in these contexts, the highest levels of privacy and security are required.

DOD EMALL was the brainchild of Partnet founder Dr. Don Brown. It was the offshoot of an idea to use the then-infant Internet as a more efficient way to source engineering parts. The idea was generalized to all sorts of items necessary for the DOD to run. DOD EMALL was one of the first multi-vendor, multi-industry eCommerce sites, and since going live in 1998 – has grown to handle over 15 million orders, for hundreds of thousands of users.

DOD EMALL was conceived to help make the DOD procurement system more efficient, allowing for easier price comparisons, and easier aggregation of demand. Partnet was funded by DARPA to create the proof of concept, the project was then moved to the DLA’s Research and Development group.

Partnet’s early experience in Internet commerce and culture of efficient development made them the perfect choice to create and run the DOD EMALL. Partnet’s talented developers were able to create the interfaces to both legacy DOD systems and credit card banks using the new standards of eCommerce that commercial companies were starting to adopt for their catalogs and interfaces.

Additional Information

According to their website, “Partnet has connected Government agencies and services to the Industrial base for well over a decade. During this time, Partnet has developed the knowledge, skills, and expertise to effectively navigate the intricacies of working within highly-secure Government IT environments. This includes developing specialized applications, like Partnet ePort™ that seamlessly operate within DISA-managed Defense Enterprise Computing Centers (DECC). Partnet designs DOD applications and systems that are FIPS 140-2 compliant, adhere to STIG guidelines, and support Common Access Card (CAC) identification and authentication. 

Partnet developed and continues to maintain and enhance the DOD EMALL on behalf of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).  DOD EMALL is the US Government's largest online marketplace. For over ten years, DOD EMALL has streamlined government requisitioning, while significantly lowering purchasing costs. The DOD EMALL connects nearly 2000 commercial suppliers with Federal buyers from all branches of the Military Services, as well as other select Federal agencies and State governments. DOD EMALL's annual sales volume approached $1 billion in 2009, and continues to grow every year. In 2009, under Partnet's project management, the DOD EMALL became the first DLA system to receive DIACAP-accreditation.”

Processes Supported 

• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Other

Departments Associated

• Army
• Navy / Marine Corps
• Air Force
• Agencies

Integrated Product Support Elements Addressed

• Product Support Management
• Supply Support

Disclaimer 
This tool was identified as part of a product support analytical tools database provided solely to assist defense acquisition workforce professionals to identify best value product support solutions which optimize system readiness and life cycle cost. Neither the Department of Defense or the Defense Acquisition University provide any warranty of these tools whatsoever, whether express, implied, or statutory, including, but not limited to, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or any warranty that the contents of the item will be error-free. This analytical tools database should under no circumstances be considered as being all-encompassing, and is in no-wise meant to endorse the capabilities or products of any particular individual, company, or organization.