Auditors: Army's huge SAP project 'at high risk'

08.07.2011
The U.S. Army's massive SAP software project is "at high risk" of running further over time and budget, according to a recent report by the Department of Defense's Inspector General's Office.

Auditors sought to determine whether DoD and Army officials managing the project had taken the proper steps to fix problems identified in a 2008 report by the Inspector General's Office, according to the report, which was released last month.

Their actions were insufficient, auditors found. "The Army estimates it will spend $2.4 billion over the [project] life cycle; however, it still has not identified all of the requirements and costs associated with the project," the report stated. "In addition, the DoD and Army did not implement 7 of the 16 recommendations we made in our prior report."

The SAP project, (GFEBS), will manage a US$140 billion annual budget and serve nearly 80,000 users once it is complete. Some 15,500 users are now live on the system.

It has already seen delays and more than $53 million in cost overruns, according to the auditors' report. An initial "operational capability" milestone first set for August 2007 was pushed back to September 2010, it stated. A proposed December 2009 target date for "full operational capability" was moved to December of this year, it added.

There's also the chance that the system, once implemented, won't meet its original objectives, according to the auditors' report. Between June 2005 and September 2009, testing requirements more than doubled from 314 to 634.