The Department of Defense today selected International Business Machines (IBM) of Armonk, N.Y., to develop a DoD-wide financial management enterprise architecture. As the lead contractor, IBM will team with American Management Systems (AMS), Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), DynCorp, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and Accenture, under the direction of the DoD Financial Management Modernization Program Office, to design a blueprint for future DoD investments in business management information technology.
"Development of a financial management enterprise architecture is a major step in realizing Secretary Rumsfeld's goal of managing DoD in an efficient, business-like manner," said Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov S. Zakheim who oversees the financial management modernization office. "Through this plan, we intend to have relevant, reliable and timely financial information available on a routine basis. This capability will support informed decision-making at all levels throughout the department," he added.
IBM is being issued a blanket purchasing agreement through the contracting arm of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. The agreement has an estimated value of $50 million to $100 million, depending upon the number of calls issued against it.
The enterprise architecture will propose new ways of conducting DoD financial activities. It will offer solutions for modernizing the department's financial practices and will integrate the department's systems and business processes in the fields of logistics, health care, accounting, finance, personnel and other areas. This reform effort is expected to reduce the approximately 967 stand-alone systems currently generating financial data. The enterprise architecture and transition plan is expected to be completed by March 2003.
