Cadillac of systems

The Defense Department's Commercial Activities Management Information System takes the best features of three Web-based systems that were being developed separately by the Army, Navy and Air Force, said Lorna Delay, senior program manager in the Office of the Secretary of Defense's competitive sourcing and privatization office. The result: "It's the Cadillac of systems," she said.

"We built the system so tight, working with Calibre Systems and the users, and made the business rules so tight...to help minimize human error," Delay said. The system alerts users if an obvious mistake is made, such as a tentative decision date being entered as earlier than the date a bid competition was announced. "They will see that before they send it off," she said.