Pentagon Efforts to Straighten Out Bookkeeping Face Billion $ Cost Overruns

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/pentagon-efforts-straighten-out-bookkeeping-face-billion-dollar-cost-overruns-1343575227

Multiple Pentagon efforts to account precisely for the flow of military spending are facing major delays and at least an $8 billion cost overrun, according to a new report by the Defense Department’s inspector general.

The internal watchdog, in a report last week, said that the military services have missed their deadlines for designing and integrating new accounting software meant to bring their bookkeeping up to modern standards and manage their parts and weapons inventories more efficiently. In the Army’s case, the launch date for its new accounting system has slid 12 years, from 2004 to 2016. The delays threaten to derail Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s goal of completing a major financial audit for the Pentagon by 2017, according to the inspector general’s report. The aim of such audits is give the Pentagon’s top brass a better understanding of how their funds are being spent and help avoid misspending and waste.

Accounting software systems for the Navy and Air Force have also experienced delays and cost overruns. Launch of the Air Force’s program, managed by Accenture, has been postponed from October 2009 launch to April 2017, and its cost has jumped from $420 million to almost $2.2 billion, according to the new report. The Navy’s program, developed by IBM, is to be launched in August 2013, more than two years behind schedule.

“As a result of the schedule delays, DoD will continue using outdated legacy systems and diminish the estimated savings associated with transforming business operations through … modernization,” said Amy J. Frontz, the principal assistant inspector general for auditing, in an introduction to the report.

[surrealAmerican]

1. Sometimes the irony is overwhelming.

k & r

[99Forever]

2. Rathole...

... meet tax dollars.

It's the MIC "patriotic" way.

[DCKit]

4. Pentagram muckety-muck$ leave the $ervice for cu$hy job$ in the defen$e indu$try.

It's really not in their (personal) best interest that all the money be accurately tracked. Their future incomes depend on ignorance regarding waste and fraud.