The Dept. of Defense¿s (DoD) business systems modernization program is designated as ¿high risk¿. To assist in addressing this high-risk area, the Reagan Nat. Defense Authorization Act for FY 2005 contains provisions that are consistent with prior investment mgmt. and enterprise architecture-related recommendations, and requires the dept. to submit annual reports to its congressional committees on its compliance with these provisions. The act also directs a review each annual report. This report assessed the actions taken by DoD to comply with requirements of the act. The report reviewed the latest version of DoD¿s business enterprise architecture and the associated transition plan and architecture federation strategy. Illustrations.

The DoD has had long-standing, serious problems with its numerous military component-unique personnel and pay systems. To address these problems, in 1998, DoD initiated a program to design and implement the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, which will provide a joint, integrated, standardized personnel and pay system for all acting and reserve military components. However, some Army Reserve and National Guard troops continued to receive inaccurate pay. Furthermore, problems have been exacerbated by military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, whose families depend on receiving accurate and timely pay. This review focuses on DoD¿s plans to deliver the system to the Army for deployment. Charts and tables.

The amount of money that the Department of Defense (DOD) spends each year contracting for goods and services dwarfs the amounts spent by other federal agencies. For example, during fiscal year 1999, DOD reported that it spent about $130 billion on contracts for goods and services. By comparison, the second largest contractor of goods and services in the federal government was the Department of Energy, which reported that it spent about $15.5 billion during the same period.

Since 1995, the DoD¿s business systems modernization program has been designated as high risk, and it continues to do so today. To assist in addressing DoD's business system modernization challenges, the Nat. Defense Authorization Act for FY 2005 contains provisions that require the DoD to take certain actions and to annually report to its congressional committees on these actions. This is an annual review of DoD's actions to comply with key aspects in the Act and related fed. guidance. To do so, the auditor reviewed, for ex., the latest version of DoD's business enterprise architecture and transition plan, investment mgmt. policies and procedures, and information in the dep¿t. business system data repositories. Includes recommendations. Illus.

In 1995, the DoD business systems modernization program was designated as a high-risk program, and the program remains on the high-risk list today. A key to successful systems modernization is having and using an enterprise architecture as an authoritative frame of reference, or blueprint, for system investment decisions. To assist DoD in modernizing its business systems, Congress passed legislation consistent with prior recommendations for DoD to develop and implement a business enterprise architecture (BEA). In response, DoD developed a corporate BEA that it intends to federate, or extend, to the military depts. and defense agencies. This report evaluates the status of the Air Force, Navy, and Army architecture programs. Illus.

In 1995, we first designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) business systems modernization program as "high risk," and we continue to designate it as such today. To assist in addressing this high-risk area, Congress passed legislation consistent with prior GAO recommendations for Defense to develop a business enterprise architecture (BEA). In September 2006, DOD released version 4.0 of its BEA, which despite improvements over prior versions, was not aligned with component architectures. Subsequently, Defense issued a strategy for extending its BEA to the component military services and defense agencies. To support GAO's legislative mandate to review DOD's BEA, GAO assessed DOD's progress in defining this strategy by comparing it with prior findings and recommendations relevant to the strategy's content.