Is DHS about to modernize its financial systems? Maybe.
By
Nick Wakeman
The Homeland Security Department may have closed the final chapter on a pair of blanket purchase agreements that it wants to put in place to modernize and consolidate its financial management systems.
The Homeland Security Department may have closed the final chapter on a pair of blanket purchase agreements that it wants to put in place to modernize and consolidate its financial management systems.
“May” is the operative word here as both BPAs have been wracked with bid protests and legal challenges. The systems integrator portion known as DHS Enterprise Financial Systems Integrator was finally resolved in April, when the Government Accountability Office denied a protest by Creoal Consulting.
DHS now has made three awards for the software portion with CGI Federal, Carahsoft, and Mythics as the winners of that $3 billion BPA. The award came after the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a protest by Savantage, which challenged DHS' approach of using two contracts for the program.
Formed in 2003, DHS is itself a consolidation of 22 different federal agencies and other components. Each component essentially had and many still have their own financial management system. DHS wants to create an enterprise-wide financial management system.
The systems integration portion is worth $1 billion and went to the following companies :
- Accenture
- CACI International
- CGI Federal
- CSRA (now part of General Dynamics)
- Deloitte Consulting
- IBM
- Savantage
According to Deltek data, no task orders have flown through any of the BPAs since they were awarded. But systems integration work is impossible without the software vehicle in place. Perhaps we may see some activity now.
But there is still a chance, though likely slim, that we’ll see other delays from a new protester. Seven companies in total bid on the software portion.