Army plans purchases

Army officials plan several procurements in upcoming months to help them better manage the service's information technology assets as an enterprise and to serve soldiers waging the war on terrorism, according to the Army's top IT program official.

These procurements will help Army officials use IT to improve the service's warfighting and business initiatives, said Kevin Carroll, program executive officer in the service's Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems. He spoke today at a luncheon briefing of the Industry Advisory Council. The procurements include:

* The General Fund Enterprise Business System: Officials will release a request for proposals soon and award the contract in December or January. The winning vendor will oversee implementation of commercial enterprise resource planning software for the Army's financial management systems.

* Army Knowledge Online Enterprise Services: Army officials plan to issue an RFP next month, November or December and award the contract in February or March 2005. The contract is for consolidating Army Knowledge Online's technical and management services to improve operational efficiency and savings.

* Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 2: Officials will release a request for information in November followed by the RFP in January 2005. Contract awards will come in April or May 2005 to companies to provide performance-based IT services.

* Military Entrance Processing Command System: Army officials will issue an RFP in January 2005 and award the contract later next year. The winning bidder will automate the military's system for distributing new recruits.