Coming Soon: FMS-ACES RFI

The Army is seeking to modernize its legacy Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case implementation, execution, and closure system, Centralized Integrated System - International Logistics (CISIL), and centralize additional functionality included in several ancillary applications used to improve and enhance CISIL functionality and user interfaces. The primary function for CISIL is to centrally manage FMS case logistics, financials, and close outs while simultaneously synchronizing multiple Army and Department of Defense (DoD) systems and introducing supply requirements into the Army and DoD domestic supply systems. CISIL is wholly responsible for validating and applying all FMS laws, regulations, policies, and directives (LRPDs) to these supply requirements. CISIL is an antiquated system, developed in COBOL in the 1970s utilizing internal COBOL data storage/structures and not a standalone relational database management system (RDBMS). It has been in a brown out state since 1996 with only critical mission requirements updated over time and no enhancements / improvements to COBOL coding/data structures. While the system currently performs the required capabilities, adjustments to the system are costly with COBOL program resources quickly becoming scarce. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has directed the Army to replace the aging CISIL with a modernized system that meets the needs of the Army’s FMS program.

The Army has directed that the modernized solution will be hosted in a Department of Defense (DoD)-approved Cloud. Additionally, the modernized solution must be able to support Army and non-Army partners. The Army has determined that a new system, the Foreign Military Sales-Army Case Execution System (FMS-ACES), is necessary to keep pace with modern technologies, cybersecurity advancement, auditability, financial compliance, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) data collection, and shared requirements. FMS-ACES will meet the security cooperation community's business needs for improved visibility and quality of case execution data, comply with federal mandates and DoD standards, adopt standard end-to-end business processes and standard data elements to foster a new more robust business environment. The new system should provide a place where stakeholders can work together to proactively manage the Government's security cooperation programs, utilize modern programming languages and frameworks, and provide a more sustainable and maintainable application by way of an intuitive, familiar, and more modern user interface.

The Army is seeking an innovative FMS-ACES solution that accounts for technology evolution and technology insertion with minimal impact to solution composition, provides dynamic business rules generation to accommodate evolving mission scenarios, allows for data model extensibility for unique Government data elements associated with LPRDs and interfaces, and meet requirements with minimal customization.

High-level objectives include:

• Improve standardization of business processes and data
• Automate all case execution processes with the ability to modify / overwrite business process workflows based on exceptions aligned to user roles and permissions
• Improve visibility and quality of case execution data
• Improve the availability and accessibility of data used for informed decision-making
• Improve the ability to enhance, sustain, and maintain the solution by applying flexible and adaptive technologies
• Comply with Federal and DoD mandates, to include DoD finance, acquisition, logistics, and Information Technology (IT) security policies
• Provide greater ability to implement, execute, forecast, and handle fluctuations in the level of administration of security cooperation programs
• Provide enhanced capabilities for transactional processing required for case execution, such as improved Graphical User Interface (GUI), transactional edits, and validation checks
• Provide an intuitive user interface that navigates the user through assigned processes
• Consolidate data into dynamic reports and dashboards
• Provide role-based access controls (RBAC) based on a roles and permissions hierarchy
• Automate data validation rules to ensure data context and accuracy at entry/ingest
• Provide access to historical data, to include performing data conversion
• Display data in a consolidated manner in a single view (e.g., common operating picture)
• Provide a solution that operates in a Government Cloud that is Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) and Impact Level (IL) 4 compliant
• Provide the ability to readily make system changes post-deployment, while realizing significant reductions in sustainment costs and reducing maintenance risk

At this time, the Government plans to release a Request For Information (RFI) late October 2022, supplemented by a Reading Room, and plans to conduct an Industry Day mid-November 2022 with potential one-on-one sessions prior to vendor RFI response submission.