REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama (September 21, 2023) – An Army Contracting Command employee led a team that developed automated software to track Risk Management and Internal Control Program for organizations that has been adopted by the Army.
Lori Cordell-Meikle, the ACC director of the Internal Review and Audit Compliance Office, worked with a program manager and team of developers to create the RMIC Portal that will save the Army millions of dollars instead of using off-the-shelf programs across the service.
The idea for an RMIC Portal came after the White House Office of Budget released a requirement to have all Department of Defense organizations auditable and accountable. All Army organizations are responsible for implementing management practices that identify, assess, respond and report on risks. Organizational leaders are also responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls related to operations, reporting and compliance. These assessments and reports are done annually, but each Army organization developed its own reports.
“There was no standardization on how Army organizations produced their RMIC reports,” Cordell-Meikle said. “There was a need for a completely transparent, automated solution. With the Excel spreadsheet we developed, it tracks training, deliverables and suspenses that each unit can submit through SharePoint with embedded instructions to ensure all fill out the reports properly.”
Cordell-Meikle and her team took a phased approach to develop an RMIC Portal first for ACC. First the team designed the portal that was accessible on the ACC SharePoint, second the team ensured it was fully automated, and third the team tested and developed a corrective action plan. The ACC RMIC Portal was briefed to Army Materiel Command officials in 2021 and AMC adopted it for all its major subordinate commands in 2022.
Army Financial Management Command officials are preparing to launch the RMIC Portal across the entire Army in fiscal 2024.
“This is a huge win for the Army as all organizations will have access to the RMIC Portal,” Cordell-Meikle added. “The Portal we developed is fully automated with embedded instructions. In addition, it saves the Army about $5 million as another service paid that amount for off-the-shelf applications.
“The RMIC Portal gives the Army a standardized way to validate reasonable assurance controls are in place,” she added. “Now we can tell Congress how we are functioning and managing our dollars. The RMIC Portal gives the Army reassurance on being good stewards of U.S. taxpayer dollars and doing what we are supposed to be doing with our money.”
Cordell-Meikle is quick to point out it took a team to develop the RMIC Portal. She gives credit to the ACC Internal Review and Audit Compliance Office as well as the ACC Directorate of Information Management for assisting in the Portal development.
About Army Contracting Command
The Army Contracting Command is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. From food and clothing to bullets and bombs; from tanks and trucks to boats and aircraft; from Soldiers' weapons to the installations where they work and live with their families, ACC ensures Soldiers have what they need to be successful. As the Army's principal buying agent, ACC supports Army readiness and modernization by using best practices and expert-level oversight to provide warfighters with premier contracting support. The command accomplishes its global operational missions with a professional workforce of Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians, foreign local nationals and contractors at more than 100 locations worldwide.
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