SAP Gets $6.67 Million NASA Contract

By Gail Repsher Emery, Staff Writer


OCT. 6 -SAO Public Sector and Education Inc. announced Oct. 5 that NASA chose its SAP Financials software to replace 10 separate systems in use at the space agency's field centers.


SAP Financials will give NASA real-time, online budgeting capabilities, allowing the agency to integrate and update its central financial records. The initial award for the software and the first year of maintenance is $6.67 million.


The implementation of SAP Financials is the first part of NASA's program to modernize its business processes. Called the Integrated Financial Management Program, the effort aims to improve the agency's financial, physical and human resources management operations.


According to NASA, the software will:
provide timely and reliable information for management decisions; improve NASA's accountability and enable full cost management; enable NASA to operate more efficiently; allow NASA to exchange information with customers and stakeholders; help NASA attract and retain top-notch staff by enabling them to do their jobs better.


The software will be installed first at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., by a team of SAP and NASA employees, and then installed at other locations.


"We look forward to combining our respective knowledge and strengths to build a system that will make NASA a leader in the growing e-government arena," said Tom Shirk, president of SAP Public Sector and Education.