Expeditionary Combat Support System Moves Ahead With $627.8M Award to CSC
Despite earlier protests from SAP, the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) continues to move ahead. The US Electronic Systems Center’s 554th Electronic Systems Group recently awarded a $627.8 million task order to Computer Sciences Corporation for systems integration support. CSC will be providing business process improvement consulting as well as software installation and testing, a common feature of corporate ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) software implementations.
ECSS is an Oracle 11i based product suite that is intended to replace more than 400 legacy systems for up to 750,000 projected Air Force users, and will be part of the future Global Combat Support System – Air Force. It will support all logistics functions including product lifecycle management, advanced planning and scheduling, repair and maintenance, and distribution and transportation. Note, however, that ERP software systems are inherently high risk level projects; successfully meeting the program’s objectives, in a manner that can satisfy both the customer and oversight groups like the GAO, can be challenging.
