EProcurement, Energy Convergence mark major milestones

Photo By Sara Moore | The Defense Logistics Agency took another step toward a fully automated procurement system Oct. 24 as it marked the third release of the Enterprise Procurement program.  

FORT BELVOIR, VA, UNITED STATES

10.24.2011

Story by Sara Moore 

Defense Logistics Agency   

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- The Defense Logistics Agency took another step toward a fully automated procurement system, Oct. 24, as it marked the third release of the Enterprise Procurement program.

EProcurement was first launched in November 2010 to DLA Document Services and DLA Strategic Materials. Another release in the spring expanded the program’s capabilities and included several more sites. This latest release, known as Release 1.2, went to DLA Aviation and DLA Energy, and brought the system and the retrofit sites to full functionality.

The first release of EProcurement had limited functionality, but each subsequent release brought in more capabilities, including delivery order processing and interfaces with the military services, said Robert Gee, a business process analyst who leads the EProcurement effort in DLA Acquisition. Release 1.2 brings a lot of automation to the system, which will allow it to be deployed to DLA’s larger primary-level field activities, Gee said.

“This is bringing in the automation, which is the final piece, plus we’re bringing in records management, which is our electronic contract folder,” he said.

The new release also brings additional interfaces to the federal procurement data system, the agency’s contract reporting mechanism to Congress – as well as others, Gee said.

The goal of EProcurement is to create a single contract writing and administration tool within the Enterprise Business System, DLA’s enterprise resource planning solution, and this release brings the agency closer to that goal, said Air Force Col. Michael Claffey, the procurement process owner for EProcurement within DLA Acquisition. He noted that after DLA assesses the initial operational test and evaluation phase with the release to DLA Aviation, the agency will work on a final plan in early 2012 to deploy EProcurement to the remainder of the agency.

“Once fully implemented, EProcurement will allow DLA to have a single, agencywide contract-writing system,” Claffey said. “The releases to date … [are] a continuing progression toward that goal.”

Oct. 24 also saw the first release for Energy Convergence, another program within EBS. For the first release, DLA Energy will be moving all of its nonpetroleum business units to EBS using the functionality that exists in EBS today plus what EProcurement adds to the system, said Michael Broderick, director of DLA Energy Business Process Support. The Energy Convergence release involves about 340 people within DLA Energy who work with procurement, order management, inventory management, finance, technical/quality, and planning, and they will use the same procurement functionality as DLA Aviation, Broderick said.

“For us, in particular on this Release 1 and our non-petroleum business units, we were largely very manually focused,” Broderick said. “We do not have an automated procurement solution, so with the EProcurement functionality being deployed into EBS with Release 1.2, we will now have, for the first time for DLA Energy, an automated procurement solution. That will be a tremendous benefit for us.”

The Energy Convergence release brings DLA Energy into the same business system as the rest of the agency, which will ease communication and coordination and help the agency operate more efficiently, Broderick said. He noted that the Energy Convergence release has presented some challenges, especially as DLA Energy adapted its organization and operations to move from manual processes to an automated system, but it is using change management strategies and training to ensure the transition goes smoothly.

The implementation of EProcurement has also faced cultural and technical challenges, Claffey said. However, EProcurement leaders have addressed and resolved all issues that have come up, he said.

“Nothing was at the showstopper level,” he said. “All of the items we’ve been able to work with the entire team, and we’ve sent teams out multiple times to the Release 1.0 and 1.1 sites and worked closely with them, and continue to work closely with them, to ensure we’re addressing and resolving the issues as they arise at their sites.”

As EProcurement is implemented and reaches full functionality, it brings major benefits to DLA, Gee said. The most obvious benefit is standardizing procurement throughout the agency, which means bringing automation to sites that operated totally manually in the past, he said. This allows the agency to get rid of older contracting systems and do away with their associated costs, he said. Having a standard system throughout the agency brings other benefits, like having only one system for information technology personnel to maintain and interface with other Defense Department systems, he said.

Claffey highlighted the long effort that has gone into EProcurement’s development and implementation.

“It’s been a long road to get to this point,” Claffey said. “I think we’re really looking forward to and we’re excited about Release 1.2 and then Release 1 for DLA Energy. It marks another significant milestone along the path of sending EProcurement out to the entire agency, so I believe everyone’s looking forward to Oct. 24, and I believe we’ll be successful.”

• Date Taken: 10.24.2011
• Date Posted: 10.27.2011 14:06
• Story ID: 79122
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US