DOD nears start of financial fix
Pentagon closes bidding Jan. 25 on a request for quotations to design the DOD financial management enterprise architecture
The Defense Department's effort to fix its troubled financial systems will begin in earnest this week when the Pentagon closes bidding on a request for quotations to design the DOD financial management enterprise architecture.
The enterprise architecture is a high priority for DOD officials as they seek to transform the military. It has also been the major recommendation from the General Accounting Office and DOD's inspector general.
The initiative also has financial backing — the fiscal 2002 Defense appropriations bill gave the Pentagon $100 million for the effort.
The DOD financial management enterprise architecture is seen as a first step to moving toward good financial practices that will enable DOD to have clean and auditable books. But DOD officials also expect that new financial systems will provide managers with quality data so they can make effective management decisions, DOD officials have said.
The financial management enterprise architecture will provide a blueprint to guide investments in financial management operations and systems, and it will direct how the multitudes of systems that operate within DOD will work together, according to Pentagon officials.
One of the most significant hurdles DOD must overcome is the huge number of legacy financial systems that clog the Pentagon's processes. The scores of outdated, stovepiped feeder systems transmit data to DOD's core accounting systems. But because they were designed without using any standards, DOD has been forced to develop software that translates the data into the core system. That data becomes distorted as it is translated from one system to another.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service issued the request for quotations in November. Bids are due at 3 p.m. Jan. 25.