Objective
We determined whether the Enterprise Business System (EBS) Program Management Office implemented the DoD Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA) Procure-to-Pay business process to properly support the purchase of Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) goods and services and generate accurate and reliable financial management information.
Finding
The EBS Program Management Office did not fully implement the DoD BEA Procure-to-Pay business process to properly support the purchase of DLA goods and services and generate accurate and reliable financial management information. This occurred because the EBS Program Management Office:
- placed higher priorities on ensuring mission accomplishment rather than configuring EBS to comply with evolving BEA standards, and
- did not complete its re-engineering of the Procure-to-Pay business process.
Additionally, this occurred because Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer (DCMO) managers did not establish stringent validation and certification procedures for ensuring that program managers implemented and accurately reported BEA requirements. As a result, although DLA has spent $2.5 billion on the EBS, DLA financial managers cannot rely on EBS trial balance data to prepare financial statements. Until DLA financial managers correct the underlying deficiencies that cause abnormal general ledger balances within its unadjusted trial balances and fully implement BEA standards, there is an increased risk of not achieving audit readiness goals in FYs 2014 and 2017.
Recommendations
We recommend the DCMO subject financial management systems, like EBS, to comprehensive assessments of BEA requirements and conduct a more comprehensive business process re-engineering assessment of the Procure-to-Pay phases affected by EBS and EProcurement. We recommend the Director, DLA, re-engineer the Procure-to-Pay business process to eliminate abnormal account balances and align EBS functionality with BEA requirements. We recommend the EBS Program Management Officer prepare an integrated schedule for completing corrective action plans and system change requests impacting the Procure-to-Pay business process and develop a compliance plan for implementing BEA requirements.
Management Comments and Our Response
Comments from the Assistant DCMO, responding for the DCMO, on Recommendations 3 and 4 and the response from the Director, DLA Information Operations, on Recommendation 1.a and 1.b addressed all specifics of the recommendations, and no further comments are required. However, DLA partially addressed Recommendation 2. We request that DLA provide additional comments by November 28, 2014.