OPM searches for financial management providers

The Office of Personnel Management has ended an effort to develop financial management and procurement systems with the Bureau of the Public Debt and will conduct a public/private competition to acquire them, according to an OPM announcement issued Nov. 21.The agency is looking for software, integration, hosting and application management services for the systems. OPM will conduct the competition according to Financial Management Line-of-Business guidelines. It may be the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 before the agency begins the competitions, however. Through the competition, OPM will choose a shared service center, either in an agency or the private sector. OPM needs to enhance the agency's ability to generate accurate and up-to-date financial information, to prepare for future upgrades and to implement enhancements certified by the General Services Administration's Financial Systems Integration Office.The Office of Management and Budget named the Bureau of the Public Debt as one of four agencies qualified to become a shared service center in financial management. OPM officials did not offer any additional explanation for ending the joint effort.