JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- (May 5, 2016) Officials here are fielding a new online application tool offering leaders throughout the Mission and Installation Contracting Command greater insight into the Government Purchase Card Program in an effort to achieve increased rebates and reduced delinquencies.
"The GPC tool will assist agency organizational program coordinators, or AOPCs, with tracking GPC-related training activities, provide them a portal to complete their required annual audits, and enable the storage of supporting documentation," said Maj. Lee Bruner, a program integrator at MICC-Fort Belvoir who serves as the project manager for this initiative.
The MICC GPC Program represents $747 million in annual charge volume for goods and services by more than 13,500 cardholder and billing official accounts across 31 contracting offices.
MICC officials said the tool will provide leaders with a snapshot of delinquencies, rebates, audits and transactional data for any given period. They added that this functionality will provide leadership at the contracting brigade, contracting battalion and office levels with unprecedented insight into the GPC Program that is normally reserved for AOPCs.
This tool is a result of the initiative by the MICC commanding general, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Gabbert, to increase rebates from the GPC Program while minimizing delinquencies from cardholders and billing officials. The general said it builds upon a culture that reinforces the command's line of effort in providing support to its customers through a data-driven approach. A group of Army acquisition professionals met in May 2015 at Fort Belvoir to discuss ways to increase efficiencies into the oversight and management of the GPC Program for the MICC.
The group focused on sharing best practices and lessons learned, identifying problem sets across various GPC program stakeholders, identifying potential information technology solutions and business processes for increasing efficiencies, and developing a roadmap for continued improvements.
"We were seeking a single repository of the various data sources we have in the program, and the ability to deal with programmatic elements to be able to increase efficiencies in our overall program management," said Leroy Griffith, a MICC GPC Program officer. "The application provides visibility into oversight, promotes accountability and manages program outcomes."
Griffith explained the intent was to develop a MICC GPC web-based application, which will provide an end-to-end solution with an emphasis focused on helping an AOPC, contracting office director, the MICC GPC Program manager and deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement personnel with their oversight needs.
The application boasts several areas designed to improve oversight and program management. Account management provides the ability to track pending GPC applicants, recurring training, deployed cardholders and billing officials, store and upload program documents, and link billing officials to resource managers for more effective management of delinquent accounts. Audit management provides the ability to directly assign internal audit reviews, store and attach audit documentation, and accessibility for viewing of comments. Also, automatic email notifications allow system-generated email notifications to remind billing officials of outstanding account certifications as well as notifications of past due accounts and reminders of recurring training requirements to program participants.
"I commend the group of acquisition professionals, project managers, business management and installation AOPCs for their support of this command initiative, which will not only provide additional GPC program efficiencies but also will aid in the reduction of delinquencies and increasing of rebates," said Ray Estrada, the MICC GPC Program manager.
The GPC Program is the only program in the Army that returns funds back to requiring activities via rebates based on the timeliness of payment. In fiscal 2015, the MICC GPC program generated $8.9 million in rebates. To date, more than $4.6 million in rebates have been generated in fiscal 2016.
MICC officials said it was imperative to create a system that improves the information managers and customers receive daily in order to improve their individual account performances by properly managing their expenditures and keeping payments up to date with the ultimate goal of maximizing rebates each quarter.
The GPC application implementation is in the final stages with several MICC offices scheduled to complete the onboarding process by May 2016.
Headquartered at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the MICC is made up of more than 1,500 military and civilian members responsible for contracting for Soldiers. In fiscal 2015, the command executed more than 36,000 contract actions valued at more than $5.2 billion across the Army, including $2.25 billion to American small businesses. The command also managed more than 600,000 Government Purchase Card Program transactions in fiscal 2015 valued at an additional $747 million.
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