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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS Subtitle A--Acquisition Policy and Management |
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P. L. 113-291 |
Explanatory Statement, 12/4/14, H8671 |
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SEC. 803. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO DEFENSE BUSINESS SYSTEMS. (a) Exclusion of Certain Information Systems From Definition of Defense Business System- Subsection (j)(1) of section 2222 of title 10, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by inserting `(A)' after `(1)'; (2) by striking `, other than a national security system,'; and (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: `(B) The term does not include-- `(i) a national security system; or `(ii) an information system used exclusively by and within the defense commissary system or the exchange system or other instrumentality of the Department of Defense conducted for the morale, welfare, and recreation of members of the armed forces using nonappropriated funds.'. (b) Business Process Mapping Requirement- Section 2222 of such title is further amended-- (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by inserting `, including business process mapping,' after `re-engineering efforts'; and (2) in subsection (j), by adding at the end the following new paragraph: `(6) The term `business process mapping' means a procedure in which the steps in a business process are clarified and documented in both written form and in a flow chart.'. |
Amendments relating to defense business
systems (sec. 803)
The Senate committee-reported bill contained a provision (sec. 803) that would require business process reengineering (BPR) before milestone decisions for the Major Automated Information System program. The House bill contained no similar provision. The agreement includes the Senate provision with a clarifying amendment. We continue to be concerned that BPR is not being conducted rigorously enough, or documented well enough, to drive successful information technology acquisition outcomes. We believe that the Department of Defense (DOD) is too often lackadaisical in its attempts at BPR or the results are misaligned to the budgeting, requirements and acquisition processes to have any significant effect on the outcome. BPR must happen early and upfront, well before the requirements and acquisition community get involved in order to inform their work. As we have observed, and as industry has indicated to us as part of our acquisition improvement efforts, it is important to clearly articulate the desired outcomes of information technology (IT) system acquisitions with input from the user community. That should happen after business processes have been analyzed, and if necessary restructured, to ensure the way an organization does business drives the system, not the other way around. Aligning the IT acquisition strategy to the mission goals of the organization is necessary to get the maximum return-on-investment from a system, but that cannot happen without leadership to drive and enforce organizational change. We believe that the requirement to do formal process mapping as part of the milestone decision approval process will help, but is only one step, in a larger effort to improve the information technology management of DOD. We believe there are a number of ways that DOD could improve BPR. For example, expanding the investment review process for IT systems and empowering the Deputy Chief Management Officer (DCMO) to conduct BPR for other IT mission areas within DOD warrants consideration in the future. Additionally, we believe that the process improvement officers of DOD and the military departments should work with their respective Chief Information Officers to create metrics to track progress and BPR, as well as meeting the other strategic management objectives of DOD. We note that there are many scientific and technical personnel within DOD's research, development, test and evaluation community that could be more actively engaged to create a rigorous, scientific process for conducting BPR. S. Rept. 113-176 to accompany S. 2410 Process map requirement for milestone approval of defense business system programs (sec. 803) The committee recommends a provision that would require business process reengineering before milestone decisions for Major Automated Information System programs. |
