Global Force Information Management Kicks Off Prototype Development Activities

PEO EIS’s Global Force Information Management (GFIM) product office — tasked with developing a platform that integrates force structure, readiness, mobilization and requirements validation to meet service and Global Force Management requirements — is kicking off agile capability development sprints this month for two Phase 1 prototypes awarded in August.

The Phase 1 prototypes — focused on dynamic force structure — aim to demonstrate an integrated planning, programming and production capability that serves as the single entry point for conducting force management activities for an Army “at rest.” Specifically, the prototypes will subsume all or most of the capabilities of six legacy Force Management systems: the Structure and Manpower Allocation System, Force Management System (FMS), FMS Web, the Defense Readiness Reporting System – Army (Force Registration Application), the Army Organization Server, and Reserve Component Automation Systems (Organizational Authority and Permanent Orders System Applications).

Prototypes that are successful in Phase 1 will advance to Phase 2, which seeks to demonstrate an Army “in motion” integrated solution. This solution will address the remaining GFIM capability requirements to automate the Deploy to Redeploy/Retrograde business processes guiding force generation, employment, sustainment, and redeployment and regeneration, as well as fully enable dynamic force employment. By the end of Phase 2, the prototypes will demonstrate the full range of Army Force Management tied to the Total Army Analysis and Command Plan planning cycles. The Army will then award a production agreement to one vendor.

GFIM, part of PEO EIS’s Army Data and Analytics Platforms (ARDAP) portfolio, is collaborating with the Army G-3/5/7 on the acquisition approach for its prototype. As the Army and its industry partners build out the GFIM operational environment, they will replace 13 disconnected legacy systems and 26 sub-systems lacking interoperability with one automated system that leverages cloud-hosting technology and consolidates classified and unclassified data in a single, authoritative data platform. GFIM will incorporate artificial intelligence/machine learning and predictive analytics, ultimately helping the Army achieve decision dominance and enable multi-domain operations.

“Our GFIM solution directly supports the Army Data Plan to position all relevant Army data in the cloud and make it visible, accessible, understandable, linked, trustworthy, interoperable and secure,” said JT Craft, product lead for GFIM.

Andy StLaurent, GFIM deputy product lead, added that ultimately, the program “will provide authoritative data for all downstream consumers of Army authoritative Force Management data, meet the DOD requirement for a universal data methodology for service organizational hierarchies, and provide real-time information to anyone that needs it for real-time Force Management decisions.”

Once fully operational, GFIM will support 160,000 users — including senior leaders and combatant commanders from company through division levels — enabling them to make data-driven force structure decisions faster and with confidence.