DOD to test business modernization architecture

The Defense Department later this month will release two requests for proposals for pilot programs using its Business Management Modernization Program architecture.

DOD will award contracts for a new accounting system based on the requirements identified last April by Defense employees and contractor IBM Corp. U.S. Transportation Command, Air Force Mobility will conduct one test and the Army Installation Management Agency will run the other one during fiscal 2005, said JoAnn Boutelle, DOD's deputy chief finance officer.

"All the services are cooperating to work on the implementation of these new processes so we will end up with a common set of processes," Boutelle said at the annual conference sponsored by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program in Washington. "All the bases will eventually run the same system with some tweaking needed."

The new accounting system will include budget, bill paying and accounting functions, she said.

Boutelle said the finance domain is running the pilots, which are the first of their kind. DOD divided its lines of business into domains and appointed owners to manage the development in seven areas: logistics, acquisition, accounting and financial management, program and budget, personnel and readiness, technology infrastructure and real property, and environmental liabilities.

She said other domain owners also are starting to test systems based on the new architecture.

The number of systems in the inventory has reached almost 2,300, she added.