DRAFT Army Financial Improvement PWS 06 10 2021 v10.doc

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

Army Financial Improvement (AFI) Program 10 June 2021 General Information

1. General: This is a non-personal services contract to provide the Army with a licensed accounting firm with professional federal accounting and auditing solutions to its business practices and information technology systems that comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and lead the Army to an unmodified audit opinion of its financial statements. Over the past several years the Department of the Army (DA) has established robust Financial Improvement Program focusing in the areas of Accountability, Risk Management, Financial Reporting, and Audit Remediation that encompasses all Army Major Commands and crosses numerous functional components including service provider interface and coordination. The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army – Financial Operations and Information (ODASA-FOI) is responsible for the monitoring and execution of the Army’s Accountability, Risk Management and Internal Control (RMIC), Financial Reporting, and Audit programs.

1.1 Description of services: The contractor shall (1) to improve the accuracy, reliability and timeliness of Army financial data and information, (2) identify business process risk and establish an effective financial internal control environment, processes and procedures, (3) produce Army’s annual and quarterly Financial Statements and 4) provide a reliable financial environment capable of successfully supporting independent attestation and audit engagements of the Army financial statements.

1.2 Background: The current program has matured from a “Discovery” phase to an audit response, remediation, and sustainment-centric program. The financial environment and related key internal controls are thoroughly tested for effectiveness, reliability and to determine the sustainable design of the internal controls to achieve their intended assurances. These efforts require a substantial investment in time and resources to assist the Army, its Commands and DFAS reliance to achieve its overall goal of achieving a financial environment that is accurate, reliable, timely and auditable.

1.3 Objectives: The contractor shall:

· Assist the goals of the full scope audit with full transparency, prioritize and remediate findings, strengthen internal controls and improve the accuracy of financial reports.

· Achieve the DA Audit Roadmap milestones and objectives, including achievement of a favorable audit opinion of the Army General Fund by 2025 and a clean audit opinion by 2027.

1.4 Scope: The OASA(FM&C) is responsible for the monitoring and execution of the Army Financial Improvement (AFI) program. OASA(FM&C) anticipates that support to DA FIAR will be necessary throughout the DA, other DoD Services, and Shared Services Providers such as Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and Defense Finance and Accounting Services DFAS).

1.6 General Information:

1.6.1 Quality Control: The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is the means by which he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the contract. Quality control Plan shall be delivered within 30 days after contract award. Three (3) copies of a comprehensive written QCP shall be submitted to the KO and COR within 5 working days when changes are made thereafter. After acceptance of the quality control plan the contractor shall receive the contracting officer’s acceptance in writing of any proposed change to his QC system.

1.6.2 Quality Assurance: The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

1.6.3 Recognized Holidays:

New Year’s Day

Labor Day

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday

Columbus Day

President’s Day

Veteran’s Day

Memorial Day

Thanksgiving Day

Independence Day

Christmas Day

1.6.4 Hours of Operation: The contractor is responsible for conducting business, between the hours of 0800 – 1700 Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays identified in 1.6.3 or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings. For other than firm fixed price contracts, the contractor will not be reimbursed when the government facility is closed for the above reasons. The Contractor must at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks ordered within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons.

1.6.5: Place of performance: The Government will only provide space for a limited number of contractor support personnel ordered within the National Capital Region (NCR). The contractor should plan to provide accommodations for any additional personnel used to support this requirement through other means. A predominance of the work performed is anticipated to be performed at the contractor facilities, Army Command and Installations or Service Provider locations CONUS and OCONUS. Travel may be required to attend meetings and conferences. Travel locations, durations, and anticipated costs must be preapproved by the COR prior to commencement of travel. See DD 254 for locations.

Alternate Place of Performance – Contingency Only. As determined by the Contracting Officers representative (COR) and Contracting officer (KO), contractor’s employees may be required to work at an alternate place of performance (e.g., home, the contractor’s facility, or another approved activity within the local travel area) in cases of unforeseen conditions or contingencies (e.g., pandemic conditions, exercises, government closure due to inclement weather, etc.) IFIQ Contractor shall prepare all deliverables and other contract documentation utilizing contractor resources.

1.6.6 Type of Contract: The government will award a Hybrid Time and Material (T&M) and Firm Fixed Price (FFP) IDIQ.

1.6.7 Security Requirements: Contractor personnel performing work under this contract must have a Secret security clearance is required for all personnel on this engagement and must be obtained, in accordance with the contract prior to work on the engagement.

Anti-Terrorism (AT) Level I Training. This provision/contract text is for contractor employees with an area of performance within an Army controlled installation, facility or area. All contractor employees, to include subcontractor employees, requiring access to government installations, facilities and controlled access areas shall complete AT Level I awareness training within 30 calendar days after contract start date or effective date of incorporation of this requirement into the contract, whichever is applicable. The contractor shall submit certificates of completion for each affected contractor employee and subcontractor employee, to the COR or to the contracting officer, if a COR is not assigned, within 30 calendar days after completion of training by all employees and subcontractor personnel. AT level I awareness training is available at the following website:

https://atlevel1.dtic.mil/at AT Awareness Training for Contractor Personnel Traveling Overseas. This standard language text required US based contractor employees and associated sub-contractor employees to make available and to receive government provided area of responsibility (AOR) specific AT awareness training as directed by AR 525-1.

Specific AOR training content is directed by the combatant commander with the unit awareness training officer (ATO) being the local point of contact. iWATCH Training. This standard language is for contractor employees with an area of performance within an Army controlled installation, facility or area. The contractor and all associated sub-contractors shall brief all employees on the local iWATCH program (training standards provided by the requiring activity ATO). This local developed training will be used to inform employees of the types of behavior to watch for and instruct employees to report suspicious activity to the COR. This training shall be completed within 30 calendar days of contract award and within 30 calendar days of new employees commencing performance with the results reported to the COR NLT 30 calendar days after contract award. Access and General Protection/Security Policy and Procedures. This standard language text is for contractor employees with an area of performance within an Army controlled installation, facility or area. Contractor and all associated sub-contractor employees shall comply with applicable installation, facility and area commander installation/facility access and local security policies and procedures (provided by government representative). The contractor shall also provide all information required for background checks to meet installation access requirements to be accomplished by installation Provost Marshal Office, Director of Emergency Services or Security Office. Contractor workforce must comply with all personal identity verification requirements as directed by DOD, Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA) and/or local policy. In addition to the changes otherwise authorized by the changes clause of this contract, should the Force Protection Condition (FPCON) at any individual facility or installation change, the Government may require changes in contractor security matters or processes. For Contracts That Require Handling or Access to Classified Information. Contractor shall comply with FAR 52.204-2, Security Requirements. This clause involves access to information classified “Confidential,” “Secret,” or “Top Secret” and requires contractors to comply with— (1) The Security Agreement (DD Form 441), including the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (DoD 5220.22-M); any revisions to Department of Defense (DOD) 5220.22-M, notice of which has been furnished to the contractor.

For Contracts that require Operational Security (OPSEC) Training. Per AR 530-1, Operations Security, new contractor employees must complete Level I OPSEC training within 30 calendar days of their reporting for duty. All contractor employees must complete annual OPSEC awareness training. Contractor Employees Who Require Access to Government Information Systems. All contractor employees with access to a government info system must be registered in the Army Training Certification Tracking System (ATCTS) at commencement of services, and must successfully complete the DOD Information Assurance Awareness prior to access to the IS and then annually thereafter. For Information assurance (IA)/information technology (IT) training. All contractor employees and associated sub- contractor employees must complete the DoD IA awareness training before issuance of network access and annually thereafter. All contractor employees working IA/IT functions must comply with DoD and Army training requirements in DoDD 8570.01, DoD 8570.01-M and AR 25-2 within six months of employment. The security requirements are in accordance with the attached DD254.

1.6.7.1 PHYSICAL Security: The contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all government equipment, information and property provided for contractor use. At the close of each work period, government facilities, equipment, and materials shall be secured.

1.6.7.2 Key Control: The Contractor shall establish and implement methods of making sure all keys/key cards issued to the Contractor by the Government are not lost or misplaced and are not used by unauthorized persons. NOTE: All references to keys include key cards. No keys issued to the Contractor by the Government shall be duplicated. The Contractor shall develop procedures covering key control that shall be included in the Quality Control Plan. Such procedures shall include turn-in of any issued keys by personnel who no longer require access to locked areas. The Contractor shall immediately report any occurrences of lost or duplicate keys/key cards to the Contracting Officer.

1.6.7.2.1. In the event keys, other than master keys, are lost or duplicated, the Contractor shall, upon direction of the Contracting Officer, re-key or replace the affected lock or locks; however, the Government, at its option, may replace the affected lock or locks or perform re-keying. When the replacement of locks or re-keying is performed by the Government, the total cost of re-keying or the replacement of the lock or locks shall be deducted from the monthly payment due the Contractor. In the event a master key is lost or duplicated, all locks and keys for that system shall be replaced by the Government and the total cost deducted from the monthly payment due the Contractor.

1.6.7.2.2. The Contractor shall prohibit the use of Government issued keys/key cards by any persons other than the Contractor’s employees. The Contractor shall prohibit the opening of locked areas by Contractor employees to permit entrance of persons other than Contractor employees engaged in the performance of assigned work in those areas, or personnel authorized entrance by the Contracting Officer.

1.6.7.3 Lock Combinations the Contractor shall establish and implement methods of ensuring that all lock combinations are not revealed to unauthorized persons. The Contractor shall ensure that lock combinations are changed when personnel having access to the combinations no longer have a need to know such combinations. These procedures shall be included in the Contractor’s Quality Control Plan.

1.6.8 Special Qualifications: All personnel performing under this contract shall be able to demonstrate competence in understanding, reading, speaking, and writing the English language. At time of proposal submission and throughout the period of performance, all contractor personnel shall possess a minimum of an Interim SECRET security clearance and must be a United States citizen.

The individual key contractor personnel assigned to the project shall provide qualified personnel:

- knowledgeable of GAAP, FASAB, GAGAS, Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (ICOFR), DoD financial management policies and procedures and DoD and Army organizational structures.

- experienced in performing financial statement audits and audit readiness services within the Department, the federal government, or similar enterprise organizations.

- familiar with current trends to enhance Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), General Fund Enterprise Business System, Global Combat Support System-Army, Logistics Modernization program, Integrated Personnel and pay system- Army (GFEBS, GCSS-A, LMP, IPPS-A).

- familiar with pertinent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies and federal financial management systems requirements.

- familiar with DoD policies, systems and procedures for personnel, acquisition, inventory, property and material management.

1.6.8.1 To ensure effective management of the project, the contractor shall:

- be proactive in delivering innovative accounting and auditing solutions to the Department and the federal government,

- possess an understanding of the Army's business transformation and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment,

- provide assessments and improvements of financial statement auditability plans with the overall result of achievement of a higher level of sustainment and auditable business processes to promote financial management reform and a “clean audit opinion.”

- provide audit infrastructure support for a large-scale audit, (size and scope of the Army), to interact with the external financial statement auditors and provide audit liaison support to Army organizations, Commands, Service Providers, and other external stakeholders

- engage the Army to provide recommendations on strategic direction to address complex data and audit priorities and to provide access to contractor industry expertise beyond the contractor personnel team to provide consultation on strategic topics as needed.

- Use best practices, as well as known and widely used production quality commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools, techniques and templates to complete audit readiness assessments and implement recommendations to include tailored data-driven reporting capabilities to bring insights into the design quality and effectiveness of remediation plans to the Army

- Proactively executes recommendations and training that focuses processes and procedures and applicable controls at the business process level to include interdependencies among various Army entities and service providers and provides recommendations that engage the relevant business owners towards overall accountability and self-reporting of applicable controls to ensure overall sustainment of past audit recommendations.

- provide understanding of the various Army Information Systems and provide a plan to connect the relevant NFRs with these internal systems to include the prioritization, support and execution of remediation actions of applicable corrective actions for remediation.

- maintain the ability to draw upon additional resources and maintain a “reach-back” knowledge base capability that can be drawn upon during workload peaks, and

- maintain compliance with Organizational Conflicts of Interest requirements; i.e., providing specific and clear advisories when personnel submitted for staffing for this project may cause a possible conflict of interest situation so that the Government may make a determination on acceptability in a timely manner. See specific OCI requirements elsewhere in this contract.

1.6.9 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings: The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance. At these meetings the contracting officer will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues.

1.6.10 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The (COR) will be identified by separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. A Letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

1.6.11 Key Personnel: The follow personnel are considered key personnel by the government: Program Manager/Director. The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and three alternates who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the contracting officer. The contract manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The contract program manager or alternate shall be available between 0800 to 1700, Monday thru Friday, except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons. Qualifications for all key personnel are listed below: Key Personnel must be assigned for the duration of the Task Order. At a minimum, the contractor shall have sufficient personnel assigned that are Certified Public Accountants who have been licensed by the appropriate state licensing authority. The CPAs must be in good standing with the AICPA and applicable state boards. The Government reserves the right to review and approve resumes of candidates prior to their assignment. The contractor shall maintain a list of all Key Personnel at all times. All decisions relative to key personnel shall be coordinated with the COR, i.e., extended period of absence (more than 3 consecutive days), Corporate travel (more than 3 consecutive days), reassignments, vacations (more than 3 consecutive days), etc. The COR has authority to reject these proposed decisions if it is determined that the decision will critically impact the DASA-FO project and/or operation. All unresolved issues will be decided by the Contracting Officer. Key Personnel cannot be substituted without prior Contracting Officer approval. Award of a Task Order will constitute the government’s approval of Key Personnel.

The contractor may propose individuals, regardless of labor category, as "key personnel" whenever the individual performs a function(s) that is believed to be critical to successful performance on any segment of this task order.

Program Manager/Director (Key Personnel) – Master’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology, or Business Administration/Management or CPA or CISA, twelve (12) years of experience with federal financial management or systems, AND eight (8) years of federal financial accounting or audit experience. An additional three (3) years’ experience can be substitute for each area for a Master’s degree.

1.6.12 Identification of Contractor Employees: All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by contractors are suitably marked as contractor products or that contractor participation is appropriately disclosed. Contractor personnel will be required to obtain and wear badges in the performance of this service while in a Government facility.

1.6.13 Contractor Travel: Contractor will be required to travel CONUS, OCONUS and within the NCR during the performance of this contract to attend meetings, conferences, and training. The contractor may be required to travel to off-site training locations and to ship training aids to these locations in support of this PWS. Contractor will be authorized travel expenses consistent with the substantive provisions of the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and the limitation of funds specified in this contract. All travel requires Government approval/authorization and notification to the COR. Travel is required to obtain information and complete the analysis of plans, discovery work and corrective actions. Advance notification shall be provided to the appropriate Army point of contact to allow for clearances and site preparation. Reimbursement of expense shall be in accordance with the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR). Travel shall be approved in advance by a COR. Travel shall not commence until written approval is received. Occasional meetings may be held at Army Entity locations. Travel costs are expected to be high as field work will require extensive travel. Local travel, including to and from the Pentagon, and in the surrounding Washington D.C. area, performed in the course of delivery order performance, is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed as a direct charge to the task order. Contractor will be required to travel CONUS, OCONUS, and within the National Capital Region (NCR) during the performance of this task order. The contractor may be required to ship training material to locations when training is required. Contractor will be authorized travel expenses consistent with the substantive provisions of the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and the limitation of funds specified in this task order.

1.6.14 Other Direct Costs/Incidentals. This category includes travel (outlined in 1.6.13), reproduction, and shipping expenses. The contractor may be required to provide incidental materials for the performance of this task order. Incidentals are any item offered by the Contractor in support of the task order that are not awarded and priced under their GSA Schedule contract or a Teaming Partner's GSA Schedule Contract. These item(s) are considered "Open Market Items" and the Government will compete these items in accordance with FAR requirements when exceeding $3,000. The contractor shall provide a breakdown of any incidental items and their cost(s) in their price quotation. The Contracting Officer is responsible for determining that the quoted prices are fair and reasonable. If approved at the task order level, the contractor must also obtain authorization from the COR prior to acquiring the incidentals and should provide proof of the authorization along with the invoice as supporting documentation. All materials purchased by the contractor, for support of this task order, become property of the government. The contractor shall document the transfer of the materials in accordance with established agency procedures.

1.6.15 Data Rights: The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the source codes of any software, produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government. These documents and materials may not be used or sold by the contractor without written permission from the Contracting Officer. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

1.6.16 Organizational Conflict of Interest: Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to or participate in the development of proprietary or source selection information (e.g., cost or pricing information, budget information or analyses, specifications or work statements, etc.) or perform evaluation services which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the Contracting Officer to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor’s mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the Contracting Officer and in the event the Contracting Officer unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the Contracting Officer may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

1.6.17 PHASE IN /PHASE OUT PERIOD: To minimize any decreases in productivity and to prevent possible negative impacts on additional services, the Contractor shall have personnel on board, during the sixty (60) day phase in/ 45-day phase out periods. During the phase in period, the Contractor shall become familiar with performance requirements in order to commence full performance of services during the first sixty (60) days after the contract start date. The offeror shall have an approach to transition-in work from the incumbent vendor with minimal disruption to ongoing operations. All Key Personnel shall begin performance on the first day of the transition-in period and all remaining employees shall begin performance no later than the 30th day of the transition.

PART 2

DEFINITIONS & ACRONYMS

Reserved.

PART 3

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES

3. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES:

3.1. Services: Not Applicable

3.2 Facilities: The Government will provide limited workspace for the contractor staff to provide the support outlined in the PWS to include desk space, telephones, computers, and other items necessary to maintain an office environment to the extent available.

3.3 Utilities: For onsite contractors, all utilities in the government facility shall be available for the contractors use in performance of the outlined performance of duties in the PWS. The Contractor shall instruct employees in utilities conservation practices. The contractor shall be responsible for operating under conditions that preclude the waste of utilities, which include turning off the water faucets or valves after using the required amount to accomplish cleaning vehicles and equipment.

3.4 Equipment and supplies: For onsite employees, the Government shall provide computer equipment, printers, copiers, and software and network connectivity necessary to accomplish day to day work requirements in support of overall contractual effort. The government shall provide general office supplies for their staff that are required to complete the task outlines in the contract. For offsite contractors the Government at a minimum shall provide a CAC reader and remote access software to enable remote access to the Government network. In accordance with AR 25-2, at no time will consultants store proprietary or sensitive government data on a non –government equipment.

3.5 Materials: The Government will provide Standard Operating Procedures and Policies.Other than system access related data, all Government unique information related to this requirement necessary for Contractor performance will be made available to the Contractor.

System Access. Government will provide access to the accounting systems and other Automated Data Processing (ADP) systems.

Documentation. All existing documentation relevant to this task’s accomplishment will be made available to the Contractor at the beginning of the task.

Privacy Act. All Contractor personnel assigned to this task will have access to information that may be subject to the Privacy Act of 1974. The Contractor is required to ensure the proper safeguarding of such information to prevent unauthorized release.

PART 4

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

4. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

4.1 General: The Contractor shall furnish all supplies, equipment, facilities and services required to perform work under this contract that are not listed under this PWS.

4.2 Secret Facility Clearance: The contractor shall possess and maintain a SECRET facility clearance from the Defense Security Service. The Contractor’s employees, performing work in support of this contract shall have been granted a SECRET security clearance from the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office. The DD 254 is provided as Attachment

4.3. Materials: The Contractor shall furnish materials, supplies, and equipment necessary to meet the requirements under this PWS.

4.4 The Contractor shall provide resources to meet requirements with very short timelines and multiple locations of performance. Potential Task Order Subject Matter Areas:

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), and internal control over financial reporting (ICOFR)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars:

A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control;

A-127, Financial Management Systems;

A-134, Financial Accounting Principles and Standards

A-136, Financial Reporting Requirements

OMB policies and federal financial management systems requirements

Federal Information Systems Controls Audit Manual (FISCAM) requirements

OUSD(C) FIAR Guidance

DoD and ARMY Financial Management

Federal Accounting Standards Advisor Board (FASAB), Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Concepts (SSAC), and Statements of Federal Accounting Standards (SFFAS)

SAP and Oracle Federal Financials functionality

ARMY legacy financial management systems and processes

Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

DoD financial management policies and procedures

ARMY policies, systems and procedures for personnel, acquisition, inventory, property and material management

Current trends in information technology

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification

Defense Financial Manager (CDFM) certification

Government Financial Manager (CGFM) certification

Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certification

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification

All Contractor personnel shall:

· Be capable of working independently

· Maintain & report the location of all assigned government furnished equipment

· Competently, legibly and articulately communicate in the English language

PART 5

REQUIREMENTS OR SPECIFIC TASKS TO BE PERFORMED BY THE CONTRACTOR

5. Specific Requirements or Tasks: All the tasks in section 5 are in support of the Army General Fund (GF), Army Working Capital Fund (WCF), Army Security Assistance Account funds (SAA), Army funds that are part of the Department Of Defense (DoD) consolidated financial statements (TI-97), the System Supporting the Delivery of General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS) Administrative and Operational Support Services Provided by the Army Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements Number 18 (SSAE 18), and the System Supporting the Delivery of Munitions Inventory Management Services Provided by the Army SSAE 18.

5.1 Performance requirements: Contractor support shall provide services for the following areas:

a) Audit Facilitation and Remediation

b) Audit strategy

b) Communications, Training, and Management

c) Risk management and Internal control (A123 Programs)

d) Financial Statement Preparation, Compilation, Submission, and Publication (QTR and Annual AFR)

e) Financial Policy

a. Audit Facilitation and Remediation:

1) The contractor shall provide audit infrastructure support to interact with the external financial statement auditors and provide audit liaison support to Army organizations, Commands, Service Providers, and other external stakeholders. Contractor shall support Army audit infrastructure activities, which include, but are not limited to:

a. Coordinating, monitoring, and reporting the status of provided by client (PBC) requests and audit samples utilizing Army’s or DoD’s audit response tool;

b. Coordinating mock walkthroughs to prepare Army organizations for auditor walkthroughs and site visits;

c. Coordinating audit walkthrough, site visit, and meeting requests;

d. Coordinating and facilitating bi-weekly audit in process reviews and audit entrance/exit conferences;

e. Developing and updating the annual audit protocol document and Personally Identifiable Information cheat sheet

f. Providing maintenance, training, and help desk support for Army’s audit response tool;

g. Coordinating, monitoring, and reporting on financial statement and Service Organization Control 1 (SOC1) audit Notices of Findings and Recommendations (NFR) and Corrective Action Plans (CAP) utilizing the DoD’s NFR and CAP management tool;

h. Coordinating, tracking, and reporting on relevant financial management findings and recommendations assigned to Financial Operations and Accounting (FOA) from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG), and Army Audit Agency (AAA).

2) Contractor shall provide command level audit liaison and remediation support.

3) Contractor must establish and maintain the Army Universe of Transactions (UoT) within the designated hosting environment. This will include:

a. Transitioning the UoT from its existing environment to the new designated environment;

b. Transitioning existing UoT system reconciliations from their current environment to the new designated environment;

c. Developing and maintaining a data categorization methodology and applying it to the UoT;

d. Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure sustainment of complete and accurate UoT, to include critical data elements necessary to satisfy audit population requirements and internal use by Army organizations.

4) Contractor shall develop functional design documents for financial management system(s) to financial reporting systems reconciliations and financial management system(s) to feeder system(s) reconciliations in support of the Universe of Transactions and financial statement assertions (i.e., existence, completeness, valuation, rights and obligations, presentation and disclosure).

5) Contractor shall update and refine reconciliation logic through the use of inputs from Army users.

6) Contractor shall perform or assist in the performance of root cause analysis that results in the necessary resolution for identified reconciliation variances.

7) Contractor shall assist in the development, validation, and execution of CAPs to remediate known and emergent deficiencies in Army’s business and information technology (IT) environment. This includes:

a. Advising, designing and/or validating the status of business process and IT controls in accordance with the GAO Financial Audit Manual (FAM), Federal Information System Controls Audit Manual (FISCAM), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123, and other internal control guidance and policies to identify and remediate control deficiencies;

b. Identifying and proposing opportunities to optimize the business system architecture from the point of original IT system where transactions are created to the flow of data to the financial statements.

c. Developing, updating, and distributing model audit packages.

8) Contractor shall provide audit support critical to new requirements identified by Army that are unknown at this point. These emerging requirements will still be considered within the scope of the contract as long as they are associated with audit facilitation and remediation activities.

Audit Facilitation and Remediation Deliverables:

1) Contractor shall provide weekly status report on audit response metrics for PBCs, samples, follow ups to samples, NFRs, walkthroughs, and site visits

2) Contractor shall prepare walkthrough and site visit trip reports

3) Contractor shall review, compile and provide bi-weekly audit CAP status reports

4) Contractor shall review, compile and provide monthly status report for findings and recommendations from GAO, DoDIG, and AAA audits assigned to the Financial Operations and Accounting office

5) Contractor shall provide a lessons learned document at the end of each audit cycle

6) Contractor shall create or update the audit protocol document annually by December 31

b. Audit Strategy

1) Contractor shall update and maintain the overall Army audit strategy (i.e., Army Roadmap) to achieve an unmodified audit opinion on the GF and WCF financial statements by designated timelines.

2) Contractor shall perform an initial risk assessment of the Army business process and IT environment

3) Contractor shall create, update, and maintain Integrated Project Plans (IPPs) that contain detailed activity, milestones, and outcomes with designated timelines for business process remediation required to achieve an unmodified audit opinion on the GF and WCF financial statements within the designated hosting environment.

a. IPPs must address required audit remediation activity for entity level controls as well as the following end-to-end Army business processes as defined in Army Regulation 5-1:

i. Procure-to-pay

ii. Acquire-to-retire

iii. Hire-to-retire

iv. Order-to-cash

v. Budget-to-report, including Contingent Liabilities

vi. Cost management

vii. Deploy-to-redeploy/retrograde

viii. Concept-to-product

ix. Environmental liabilities

x. Service request-to-resolution

xi. Plan-to-stock

xii. Market-to-prospect

xiii. Prospect-to-order

xiv. Service-to-satisfaction

xv. Proposal-to-reward

4) Contractor shall work with government personnel to establish annual audit remediation priorities

5) Contractor shall develop metrics, reporting capabilities, and viable solutions for use by management to improve financial management processes and overall financial management decision making.

6) Contractor shall develop Key Performance Indicators (KPI) or other metrics to measure GF and WCF audit progress towards achieving an unmodified audit opinion on the GF and WCF financial statements.

a. Assessment of systems to include Test of design (ToD) and Test of Effectiveness (ToE) testing Audit Strategy Deliverables:

1) Contractor shall provide an annual audit strategic plan to achieve and maintain and unmodified audit opinion for the GF and WCF financial statements

c. Communications and Training

1) Contractor shall develop a strategic communications plan that establishes a coaching plans to drive change, organize and execute audit updates to senior leadership, and produce. communication formats for stakeholders to monitor Army audit guidance and audit activities.

2) Contractor shall educate and train the Army workforce on new concepts and modified procedures associated with audit response requirements and audit corrective actions that impact Army business processes and financial reporting.

3) Contractor shall develop a change management plan to perform an Army-wide stakeholder analysis, identify change leader’s/ change agents, and establish stake holder commitment.

4) Contractor shall support governance and program management to facilitate business mission area champion and senior officer audit and A-123 meetings.

5) Contractor shall track and assist in developing responses to taskers from Congress, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and Army Senior Leadership.

6) Contractor shall develop briefing materials and participate in briefings with senior Army leaders and key stakeholders.

7) Contractor shall support the development of cooperative communications solutions with external dependencies and outside agencies.

8) Contractor shall plan, facilitate, and assist in the execution of the annual Army Audit Summit.

9) Contractor shall assist in developing and distributing a quarterly audit and financial management newsletter to the Army community.

10) Contractor shall manage centralized mailboxes, point of contact lists, and distribution lists to facilitate communication of audit and financial management initiatives] with the Army community.

11) Contractor shall develop and manage an Army knowledge management portal as a repository for Army personnel to access audit tools.

12) Contractor shall assist in the development of Task Management Tool (TMT) taskers, Executive Orders (EXORD), and Fragmentary Orders (FRAGOs) related to audit remediation activities

13) Contractor shall develop communication templates for briefings, decision papers, and any other relevant communication disseminated by FOA.

Communications, training and Management Deliverables:

1) Contractor shall provide in-person or virtual training to the Army community monthly

2) Contractor shall develop and provide quarterly training on the Army Learning Management System (ALMS)

d. Risk Management and Internal Control (A-123) Requirements:

The contractor shall assist the Army in identifying and managing risks and maintaining effective internal controls over its business mission areas to meet the objectives of the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 1982, Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996, Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-123 Management’s Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control, and the GAO Green Book, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government.

1) Contractor shall assist in identifying risks within Army’s business processes and development Internal Controls to mitigate the risks, creating test plans for the Test of Design and Test of Effectiveness for each control.

2) Contractor shall assist in the development, validation, and execution of corrective action plans to A-123 program’s business process deficiencies and auditor findings and recommendations.

3) Contractor shall provide assistance and support to Business Mission Area Champions (BMAC) in correcting Army’s material weaknesses in Operations, Reporting and Compliance.

4) Contractor shall assist in developing, consolidating, and monitoring of Army’s Entity Level Controls. Develop a metric to track Army’s ELCs and ensure regular control testing is conducted and working effectively.

5) Contractor shall assist in developing Army’s Annual Statement of Assurance Guidance for the next fiscal year, incorporating A-123 updates and OSD(C) / Army priority focus areas.

6) Contractor shall conduct compliance testing of Army’s Reporting Organization’s (RO) execution of their RMIC programs in accordance with the annual Statement of Assurance Guidance.

7) Contractor shall assist in developing the Army’s Annual Statement of Assurance (SoA) incorporating OSD(C) requirements and consolidating input from Army’s reporting organizations.

8) Contractor shall support system developers of a Governance, Risk, and Compliance tool that assists in facilitating RMIC testing, maintaining documentation, status of program and SoA reporting. This tool should allow users to associate critical system documentation, auditable evidence and artifacts with specific control tests, making information readily available in an easy-to-understand dashboard

9) Contractor shall conduct annual materiality assessment of the Army’s Financial Statement’s to determine the material focus areas for annual Risk Assessment and Internal Control testing.

10) Contractor shall facilitate the Quarterly Risk Management and Internal Control Senior Level Steering Group meetings.

11) Contractor shall assist in development of service organization audit agreements (Memorandum of Understanding) and monitoring of their annual reports SOC-1 to understand and document the user entity controls that impact the enterprise.

12) Contractor shall assist in development of Army A-123 policy, guidance, and SOPs as required and keep Army’s RMIC regulation AR 11-2 updated.

13) Contractor shall conduct RMIC training to Reporting Organizations upon request and in support of the Army Annual Audit Summit and the DFAS Year-End Workshop.

14) Contractor shall develop A-123 online training courses to ensure Risk Management and Internal Control personnel are qualified to perform assigned RMIC functions.

15) Assist with the development of A-123/ERM/Compliance strategy and related documentation

16) Assist with the prioritization of Army-wide remediation requirements, including system change requests and control remediation plan development

Risk Management and Internal Control (A-123) Deliverables:

1) Contractor shall provide a monthly update of risks added to the Risk Repository, the associated internal controls and test plans added to the Army’s Control Catalog.

2) Contractor shall develop corrective action plans to auditor A-123 findings within 60 days of the finding and execute the corrective action plan steps in accordance with the CAP timeline, minimizing delays.

3) Contractor shall map auditor findings and the corrective action plans relating to each material weakness and develop a metric to track progress to remediate or downgrade the material weakness.

4) Contractor shall develop a metric to track Army’s ELCs and ensure regular control testing is conducted and working effectively.

5) Contractor shall develop, coordinate, obtain the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) approval and publish to the filed by the end of the 3rd quarter of the fiscal year.

6) Contractor shall provide testing of RO Internal Control Evaluation Plan, Risk Assessment, and control testing and development of feedback to the RO will occur throughout the RMIC cycle.

7) Contractor shall update the Army’s Annual SoA will be completed, staffed and approved before the annual suspense date required by OSD.

8) Contractor shall develop a Plan of Action and Milestones to implement the Governance Risk & compliance (GRC) tool within 6 months of the contract and fully implement the tool in accordance with the Plan of Action & Milestone (POAM).

9) Contractor shall provide annual financial statement materiality assessment will be completed by the end of February annually.

10) Contractor shall schedule quarterly meeting time and location, develop briefing products, maintaining attendance and developing meeting minutes.

11) Contractor shall provide audit MOUs will be developed for all Army’s service organizations and updated on an annual basis.

12) Contractor shall update Army Regulation 11-2, Risk Management and Internal Control with legal and regulatory guidance every 5 years.

13) Contractor shall conduct A-123 annually at the Army Annual Audit Summit, the DFAS Year-End review and to Army reporting organizations as required.

14) Contractor shall deliver courses that will be reviewed to incorporate updates as necessary.

Financial Statement Preparation, Compilation and Publication:

Contractor will assist Army in all efforts related to preparing/compiling, submitting and publishing Army Financial Statements. The Contractor shall :

1) Professionally create the publication of the Army’s Annual Financial Report (financial statement and associated notes) for the Army General Fund, Army Working Capital Fund, and the Army Civil Works Fund and submit the report to OUSD (C), OPM, and Congress

2) compile and submit the quarterly financial statements and footnotes

3) conduct Fluctuation and trend analysis on financial statements

4) reconcile the Unadjusted Trial Balance to Adjusted/Final Trial Balance in Defense Departmental Reporting System (DDRS)

5) prepare a draft of the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of the financial statements.