Enterprise Resource Planning

The ranking member of a House defense audit panel wants the Government Accountability Office to update its review of the Pentagon's enterprise resource planning systems to help guide fiscal year 2013 authorization legislation.

During a House Armed Services financial management and auditability reform panel hearing today, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) asked GAO's director of financial management and assurance, Asif Khan, to update last year's report on the Defense Department's enterprise resource planning systems.

That Oct. 7, 2010, report found that out of the 10 ERPs DOD identified as critical in business operations transformations, six experienced schedule delays ranging from two to 12 years, and five of them faced cost increases totaling nearly $6.9 billion.

ERPs are business systems designed to manage an organization's resources and provide support in areas like personnel, finance, health and logistics, among others. When implemented, ERPs are expected to replace more than 500 legacy systems and play a critical role in helping the department get audit ready.

"I'd like us to be in a position when the full committee considers the FY-13 authorization bill that we have the current state of play with these 10 systems as to where they are, where they're going," Andrews said. He added that this information will allow the committee to make intelligent decisions on whether resources should be added to the systems to help them succeed, or whether any should be terminated because of failures.

The October 2010 report said one of the 10 ERPs had been fully implemented.

Khan said during the hearing that GAO is continuing to monitor the programs as part of regular follow-up, but did not have any plans to release another report.

This follow-up is designed to look at what the department has done to address GAO recommendations made in the report, Khan said in an interview following the hearing. He said this follow-up is conducted every year until the recommendations are addressed.

He noted that GAO typically initiates engagement on a study after receiving a request letter from the committee or subcommittee.