Pentagon tests new acquisition review process

A new process for rapidly reviewing business systems acquisitions is being tested on three Pentagon information technology programs as part of a group of pilot projects that will last through September.

The acquisition review process, known as the Enterprise Risk Assessment Model (ERAM), was approved by the Defense Business Systems Management Committee on Jan. 25. Implementation of the initial test cases by the Business Transformation Agency began in April.

The agency's business systems acquisition executive, Army Major Gen. Carlos Pair, will oversee the test of the review process on the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, a militarywide human resources system being developed to support military personnel and pay operations.

Kenneth Krieg, Defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, will have oversight authority for the audit of the General Fund Enterprise Business System, a program intended to provide accurate and timely financial information, and the Integrated Data Environment and Global Transportation Network Convergence, a project aimed at providing a logistics backbone for the department's supply chain.

"All similar recommendations in the past, while noble, have produced marginal change," Krieg wrote in an April 13 memorandum outlining the new process. "The ERAM initial test cases present an opportunity to game these bold ideas to provide blanket solutions and set examples for credible and enduring change management."

The new process, which will conclude with a risk mitigation plan, is designed to be executed in 48 days. A risk assessment team from the BTA will examine existing program documents and spend two to three days interviewing personnel involved in implementing the programs.

Future use will be determined after the results of the test cases are presented to the Defense business committee, according to the memo.

The process is an outgrowth of the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment Report, put out by a seven-member acquisition panel made up of industry members and authorized by Gordon England, deputy secretary of Defense, according to a BTA document.

Raj Sharma, president and CEO of the Washington-based Censeo Consulting Group, said performance management for large IT programs at the department is "severely lacking in the current acquisition process," and is particularly needed for accountability and risk management.

Performance measurements, when they happen, often are focused on the wrong metrics, and a quick assessment is "severely needed" to bring several major programs back on track, Sharma said.

"ERAM is definitely a move in the right direction to quickly identify risks and set a path forward for success," he said.

But for the assessments to be successful, Sharma said they must avoid conflicts of interest by remaining independent from the programs.

In related news, two weeks ago, the House Armed Services Terrorism Subcommittee cut $341 million from various Defense IT programs in the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, including $50 million from the Pentagon's Business Transformation Account.

While at least two Democrats in the House, and the Information Technology Association of America, have pushed to restore the funding, a spokesman for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said no amendments have been scheduled that would put the money back in when the bill goes to the full House.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., said if the cut is still in the version of the bill that passes the House, Meehan will work on restoring the funding in conference committee.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the department does not typically comment on budget issues that are before Congress.