U.S. Army Awards Accenture ERP Contracts Worth $53 Million

The General Fund Enterprise Business System, which ties in to the supply-acquisition processes that support U.S. Army missions, is no small operation. It manages more than $220 billion worth of transactions and serves more than 52,000 users at 227 worldwide locations.

In essence, the system represents the Army’s new Web-enabled financial and accounting-management operation, which standardizes, streamlines and shares critical data across its various operations. As such, it requires technical expertise to manage the system properly and to ensure supplies buyers within the military operation operate accordingly, among other needs.

Last week, the Army awarded two contracts, valued at a total of $53.1 million, to Accenture Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture LLP, to support the operation, which represents one of the world’s largest enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in the world. Accenture originally delivered the system to the Army in 2012, transforming the Army’s 107 legacy financial-management and other systems into a single core system of record for the Army General Fund.

When the Army adopted the system, it eliminated manual data entry and reconciliations and made the processing of supplies-acquisition and other data more efficient and timely. The two new contracts will help the Army continue to improve financial accountability across the service, according to Accenture’s announcement of the contract deals.

“Declining budgets are creating challenges and opportunities in the defense community,” Joe Chenelle, who leads Accenture’s defense and intelligence agency business, said in a statement tied to the announcement. The system “is providing decision makers with better ways to manage the enterprise, helping the Army save money and increase efficiency with streamlined financial-business processes.”

Both contracts are designed to continue to help the Army improve financial accountability across the service. Under one contract, valued at $11.1 million, Accenture will provide on-site system technical and training support at bases and installations throughout the Army. Under the other contract, valued at $42 million, Accenture will provide maintenance and daily operations support across several functions, including project management, help desk and application development.

In an Information Week article about the contracts, Chenelle noted that the system will improve Army decision making by providing more visibility into the use of Army funds. With the system, he said, “Army leaders and managers will make more informed business decisions, streamline operations, better leverage current resources, and plan for the future as the most effective and efficient Army in the world.”