Interior extends financial system recompete

The Interior Department has extended its deadline for proposals from vendors to work on the Financial and Business Modernization System, the agency's core enterprise resource planning system.

The department ousted http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/Lines_of_Business/37156-1.html systems integrator BearingPoint Inc. from the job in September and is seeking a new vendor to take over the McLean, Va. company's work.

Interior has extended the proposal due date from this month to early January, according to procurement consultants Input of Reston, Va.

FBMS is intended to provide comprehensive financial services for Interior's various agencies and bureaus and could reach a value of $80 million to $120 million over five years, according to industry estimates.

Interior released a solicitation for FBMS in mid-November. The department did not explain the reason it found fault with BearingPoint's work, but industry sources said that the project was over budget and delayed. BearingPoint had sought to work out the problems with Interior officials.

Interior officials were not available for comment on the progress of the FBMS project today. BearingPoint was in the midst of installing SAP NetWeaver ERP software for the system and the integrator's problems with Interior did not affect the software vendor's relationship to the agency, according to SAP.

BearingPoint of McLean, Va., ranks No. 24 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors.

Wilson P. Dizard III is a senior writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.