HUD awards IBM $194M financial system contract

The Housing and Urban Development Department awarded IBM a $194 million contract over 10 years to modernize the agency's financial management system and processes, a HUD spokeswoman said today. The department posted the award notice Dec. 2 on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site. HUD expects to implement the system in two years,  with the goal of automating reporting and producing timely, accurate and auditable financial statements, the spokeswoman said. HUD may potentially expand use of the system to the Federal Housing Administration, Ginnie Mae, and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the award notice said. Under the contract, IBM will consolidate several of HUD’s legacy financial systems into a single core financial and accounting system by using Federal Business Opportunities Web site. financial software. That is one of seven products that qualified for federal financial systems through the Financial Systems Integration Office in the General Services Administration. IBM has met criteria to be a commercial shared-service provider under the Office of Management and Budget’s Financial Management Line of Business consolidation initiative, the company said. OMB has directed agencies to use federal or commercial shared-service providers for their financial management systems when they are ready to upgrade them.m