Improvements Needed in Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System Deployment to Help Ensure Program Objectives Can Be Met

To modernize its financial and acquisition management systems, VA established the Financial Management Business Transformation (FMBT) program to replace legacy systems with a new Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS). This implementation will occur in a series of 18 waves, starting with the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit as part of its oversight of this extensive modernization program because of risks associated with the continued use of the legacy financial systems and VA’s previous failed attempts to replace them. The OIG identified four system functionality issues and three procedural weaknesses from the first iFAMS deployment at NCA, which went live on November 9, 2020. The deputy assistant secretary for the FMBT Service concurred with the OIG’s five recommendations: (1) implement controls to mitigate the risk that data are unreliable and inconsistently recorded between the legacy system and iFAMS when staff deobligate funds for converted contracts; (2) establish and implement a methodology to prioritize user feedback in the risk management process; (3) use the risk register to document and assess the risks associated with the manual deobligation process; (4) ensure that converted contracts are included in integrated system testing and user acceptance testing; and (5) implement a process to formally acknowledge whether requests related to high-priority business intelligence reports have been accepted as requirements. Improving risk management, system testing, and communication could help the FMBT Service prevent issues from affecting a significantly greater number of staff at VA’s larger administrations and allow the FMBT Service to achieve the overall program goals of promoting operational efficiency, strengthening compliance, strengthening automated controls, mitigating long-standing audit deficiencies, and improving data reliability and reporting.