Northrop Grumman launches GCSS-Army

Northrop Grumman Corporation's support to the Global Combat Support System-Army (GCSS-Army) has allowed the system to enter the production phase of the program with the successful deployment at Fort Bliss, Texas.

The GCSS-Army enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, managed by the Product Manager GCSS-Army at Fort Lee, Va., will provide a single system for anticipating, allocating and synchronizing the flow of resources in support of combatant commanders. With an anticipated user base of nearly 160,000 personnel, GCSS-Army is planned to be one of the largest ERP implementations in the Department of Defense.

On Aug. 9, the GCSS-Army program received its Milestone C approval from the Defense Acquisition Board. The granting of Milestone C moves the GCSS-Army program from the engineering manufacturing and deployment phase into the production and deployment phase.

"GCSS-Army provides near real-time and highly accurate visibility of assets and costs required to support missions and sustainment," said Mike Twyman, vice president of integrated command, control, communications and intelligence systems for Northrop Grumman Information Systems. "With this approval for production, we look forward to a successful initial operational test and evaluation and getting this valuable capability to the entire Army."

Northrop Grumman deployed GCSS-Army Release 1.1 to replace the current logistics management information systems operating throughout the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD) at Fort Bliss. The single, Web-based ERP solution will manage sustainment functions and key tactical financial functions. Release 1.1 has replaced three of the Army's major logistics systems: Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced, Standard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced and Standard Army Retail Supply System. For the 2/1 AD launch, the GCSS-Army team converted more than 240,000 data records, enhanced 38 independent interfaces, transferred more than $1.83 million of open logistics transactions with zero errors, and trained more than 300 soldiers and civilians via Web-based and instructor-facilitated instruction.

Upon successful completion of testing, GCSS-Army is scheduled to field Army-wide in two waves: first, replacing the warehousing, supply chain, and tactical finance functionalities, followed by a second wave to replace property book and maintenance capabilities.

The 2/1 AD was the second unit to receive GCSS-Army Release 1.1. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Irwin, Calif., converted to GCSS-Army in July 2010.

The GCSS-Army program is managed by the Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) and is a cornerstone of the Army's single logistics enterprise initiative. The technology behind GCSS-Army is SAP software, a commercial off-the-shelf ERP system that replaces multiple standalone and overlapping Standard Army Management Information Systems used in tactical logistics environments worldwide. Integrated with Department of Defense financial systems, GCSS-Army also provides accurate cost management, financial visibility and total cost of ownership for tactical equipment, personnel and sustainment.

Working under the direction of Army PEO EIS Product Manager GCSS-Army, the members of the Northrop Grumman GCSS-Army team are: IBM, Armonk, N.Y.; CSC, Falls Church, Va.; SAP America, Newtown Square, Pa.; and Joint Logistics Managers Inc., Prince George, Va.

Source: Northrop Grumman