DOD explores improving how it pays vendors

The Defense Department wants to update up the process it uses to pay its suppliers by using commercial software.

DOD released a request for informaiotn on Oct. 22 as part of the Defense Agencies Initiative. Responses are dune Nov. 7.

The government intends to buy commercial software that complies with DOD's business enterprise architecture to improve existing capabilities and eliminate custom extensions. Officials are requiring a solution that minimizes the need to redesign the software. DIA’s goal is to make the payment process more efficient, eliminate transaction errors, improve accounting accuracy, create accurate payments to suppliers, and reduce operations and sustainment costs.

The DIA program is DOD’s effort to modernize financial, time and labor, and procurement capabilities for 12 defense agencies.

The payment process is known as procure-to-pay and spans the procurement process from the initial request for goods or services to the payment for those goods and services.

Officials will use the feedback from the request for information to develop requirements for a new procurement.