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GCN Home > 11/22/04 issue

EA or BUST

By Dawn S. Onley, GCN Staff

Fed up with the lack of progress Defense has made on modernizing its business systems, Congress is threatening fines of $5,000 and jail time for the department’s comptroller if systems do not comply with the EA

Congress is enforcing its mandate that the Defense Department develop systems compatible with the DOD Business Enterprise Architecture—with the threat of jail time and hefty fines for the department’s comptroller.

For years, lawmakers working on Defense budgets have demanded that DOD shape up its business systems. In the fiscal 2005 Defense authorization act signed by the president last month, they set a fine of $5,000 along with a possible two-year prison sentence for each time—starting Oct. 1—that Defense OKs spending $1 million or more for any system that does not comply with the BEA.

The language is tied to Title 31 of the Antideficiency Act, which makes it illegal for government agencies to use funds for projects outside authorized purposes.

The move is the latest attempt by lawmakers to force Defense to improve its business systems, many of which duplicate one another and fail to work together. So far, the department has identified 4,700 business systems running within Defense today—up from hundreds just a few years ago. DOD spends billions of dollars each year to operate, maintain and modernize its accounting, acquisition, logistics and personnel systems.

“I think the legislation is a step in the right direction in terms of governance, accountability and helping to bring together the integration of thousands of business systems in the department,” said Gregory Kutz, director of financial management and assurance for the Government Accountability Office.

Kutz said he has never seen an official go to jail for Antideficiency Act violations, but he thinks congressional leaders are looking for someone to hold accountable in rectifying the DOD’s business systems problems.

Kutz said when he did his review of the department’s Business Management Modernization Program in the summer, he found dozens of systems across the Army, Air Force and Navy—totaling $863 million in obligations—that were in clear violation of the act.

Marilyn Fleming, chief architect for Defense’s Business Management Modernization Program, said DOD is listening.

“The goal is an unqualified auditing opinion,” Fleming said this month at the GCN 2004 Enterprise Architecture Conference in Washington. The department is shooting for a clean financial audit by 2007—which would be DOD’s first unblemished financial review ever. “The goal is how do I streamline my business and act like a corporation?”

GAO’s Kutz said the application of the architecture would improve military business operations, such as paying active-duty troops and reservists and managing supplies.

More news on related topics: Defense IT, Enterprise Architecture, Executive Center, Management



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