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April 13, 2023

IT-AAC Releases Its Second Report on 20 Year Continuing Financial Management Systems Modernization Failures at the Department of Homeland Security

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Data Engineering Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a non-revenue investigation institute, these days introduced its next in-depth, critical assessment of the United States Department of Homeland Security’s 20 year pursuit of an business Monetary Administration Devices Modernization initiatives and the hundreds of hundreds of thousands in taxpayer cash that have been squandered and squandered thanks to substantial disconnect from true entire world most effective practices and classes learned. This challenging hitting report can be uncovered listed here at IT-AAC.org or within the Publications Tab on our web site www.IT-AAC.org/stories/.

IT Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC.org)

IT-AAC is urging Congress and the Biden Administration to freeze the FMSM program and right away halt the allocation of funding. We urge GAO to carry out of a far more in depth evaluate of these matters, including the results and conclusions along with the suggestion supplied in the IT-AAC Report to Congress: A Situation Research in Strategic, Operational & Business enterprise Failure- 20 Several years & Counting- DHS Economic Management Techniques Modernization Work.

The intent of this Report is to elevate consciousness in Congress and the Govt Department and to generate a extensive evaluate and rapid corrective action connected to the continuing waste of taxpayer bucks getting allotted to the ongoing flawed method remaining pursued by the Department of Homeland Protection to accomplish an organization view of money management, asset management, and procurement administration throughout the Department.

In addition IT-AAC urges Congress to desire a extensive possibility evaluation to decide the root leads to of these ongoing failures that have expense millions of dollars in squandered taxpayer delivered methods, including a current technique transition failure at the United States Coast Guard that is noted to have price an supplemental $1 billion dollars to preserve a guide method even though attempting to reconcile that transition failure.

A new GAO Report just introduced on February 28, 2023 (DHS Money Management: Steps Required to Enhance Techniques Modernization and Deal with Coastline Guard Audit Challenges | U.S. GAO ) took a deeper search at the USCG failure. On the deal with web page of the Report it states:

“Despite the fact that DHS determined, documented, and tracked metrics to assess Coast
Guard’s program deployment, DHS uncovered that the system was not acquiring
expected abilities. This is simply because DHS did not handle and remediate
identified issues discovered in operational tests. DHS’s subsequent operational
testing and analysis of the method uncovered that it was not effective, responsive,
or reliable. Therefore, DHS could not continue to whole operational functionality of the
technique. It is now in the course of action of acquiring a remediation prepare to address
exceptional difficulties.

It is time to stop these repeated failure patterns, reassess and apply verified finest tactics supported by facts-pushed assessment and boost the chance to get this correct once and for all. IT-AAC for that reason phone calls on Congress to intervene right absent and desire an impartial investigation and overview that would end result in the generation of a technique and implementation strategy that is sustainable and will satisfy the wants and mission prerequisites of the several parts and the Section at large. These types of motion is bold, but important.

The Info Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC) is a non-earnings, community-private partnership that was organized in 2007 at the urging of Users of Congress and leadership of the United States Division of Protection. IT-AAC is a trustworthy “Do Tank” that does not manufacture or sell any products, but instead, operates as an straightforward broker in the community fascination performing to enhance government – marketplace collaboration on crucial issues this sort of as IT modernization electronic transformation procurement reform and agile acquisition cloud computing migration and implementation cybersecurity and critical infrastructure defense supply chain possibility administration DevSecOps and the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Discovering among others to attain improved performance, productiveness, and value-efficiency, all in help of mission objectives and mission outcomes.

www.IT-AAC.org

Cision

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Source IT Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC)

March 1, 2023

DHS Financial Management: Actions Needed to Improve Systems Modernization and Address Coast Guard Audit Issues

What GAO Found

The Section of Homeland Security (DHS) has outlined and implemented a tiered governance construction to offer oversight of its money units modernization applications. In 2018, DHS also recognized the Joint Program Management Workplace to direct all factors of the modernization packages, in partnership with DHS elements. DHS has both equally office-degree and program-unique programs to modernize economical devices. Monetary units modernization plans at picked DHS elements incorporate U.S. Coastline Guard, Federal Emergency Administration Agency (FEMA), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), between some others.

Coastline Guard deployed its new money administration process in December 2021 as portion of a $510 million modernization software, and declared original operational ability in June 2022. Even so, Coast Guard did not achieve anticipated whole operational ability in December 2022. The system office is establishing a remediation system.
FEMA and ICE are in the setting up phases of their economic techniques modernization attempts. In November 2022, DHS awarded contracts for software package licenses and mentioned that it strategies to award contracts for system integration companies for these factors.

Moreover, DHS recognized a system and carries on to document and consider lessons discovered from recent and past modernization makes an attempt. These classes are to be shared with impending modernization plans.

Even though DHS determined, documented, and tracked metrics to assess Coast Guard’s technique deployment, DHS discovered that the process was not accomplishing expected capabilities. This is for the reason that DHS did not handle and remediate recognised difficulties identified in operational tests. DHS’s subsequent operational tests and analysis of the procedure discovered that it was not productive, responsive, or trustworthy. Consequently, DHS could not progress to full operational capability of the procedure. It is now in the procedure of developing a remediation program to tackle exceptional difficulties.

DHS dangers not thoroughly accomplishing its aim of deploying techniques that make dependable info for management final decision-creating and economical reporting if it does not remediate really serious concerns identified by testing. Resolving deficiencies identified by tests before proceeding to the subsequent period in the acquisition method can assist cut down the chance that potential method modernization endeavours at FEMA and ICE will not meet mission needs or predicted abilities.

GAO also discovered that corrective motion programs Coast Guard designed to address its fiscal 12 months 2021 audit conclusions did not generally incorporate all of the knowledge attributes recommended in relevant assistance. For illustration, though DHS steerage emphasizes the worth of root result in analyses in resolving deficiencies, these kinds of analyses had been normally not finished. Hence, Coastline Guard is at an increased possibility that its corrective actions will not proficiently handle discovered deficiencies.

Why GAO Did This Examine

Considering the fact that DHS’s creation in 2003, it has confronted important inside regulate and economic management methods deficiencies. These issues contributed to GAO designating DHS economical administration as superior danger. To tackle its fiscal administration issues, DHS is executing a multiyear approach, to involve employing modern economic management units at its parts, which includes Coast Guard, FEMA, and ICE.

In this report, GAO (1) describes the oversight, software management, strategies, and classes realized from past and current monetary units modernization initiatives (2) examines the extent to which the Coastline Guard is attaining predicted abilities with its freshly deployed financial administration technique and (3) examines the extent to which Coast Guard has resolved audit conclusions connected to economical reporting and IT technique weaknesses.

GAO met with DHS officers, reviewed critical files and strategies associated to modernization initiatives, and assessed Coast Guard corrective motion designs to address fiscal year 2021 audit results.

December 4, 2021

The Modernization of Estate Planning

The wealth management industry is in the midst of a technological transformation as firms look toward technology to address challenges with profit growth, changing demographics and operational efficiency.

This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in estate planning, an area long overdue for disruption that currently requires wealth managers to spend resources educating financial advisors, hiring in-house estate planning specialists, and manually converting dense documents into client presentations. Requiring this level of investment has caused many firms to reserve estate planning advice for their wealthiest clients, those who can benefit from a wider range of estate planning strategies and whose AUM justifies the costs. Yet this creates a perception that estate planning is only for the rich, despite the multitude of benefits it can provide to clients of any wealth level.

Wealthtech firms are flipping the narrative by developing solutions that democratize estate planning through artificial intelligence, design thinking and automation. Wealth managers who leverage this disruptive technology will make estate planning more accessible to a wider client base, improve the ability of financial advisors to differentiate themselves and drive future growth.

The Current State of Estate Planning

Estate planning plays an important role within wealth management by providing an additional tool financial advisors can use to add value and build stickier client relationships. For clients, having a thoughtful estate plan in place provides many benefits including peace of mind, asset protection, and preparing future generations to inherit wealth. However, the process of providing estate planning advice is cumbersome and time-consuming.

A financial advisor must work with a client’s estate planning attorney to develop an estate plan, review the details with the client, and implement the agreed upon strategies. Once this is complete, ongoing monitoring and reporting are required to ensure that the plan continues to align with a client’s circumstances. Over time, these plans may be challenged by difficult family dynamics, a shifting regulatory environment, or increased wealth. Financial advisors are required to stay ahead of these changes and understand their potential effects on the plan. This process requires a significant upfront and continuous investment of time by financial advisors.

Estate Planning Disruption

Innovation opens the door for the democratization of estate planning. Wealth managers who previously reserved estate planning for their wealthiest clients can use artificial intelligence and automation to begin engaging the mass affluent client segment to capture the millionaires of tomorrow. For example, a wealth manager might add an estate planning page to their client portal that allows clients to upload estate planning documents and receive automated analysis. A client that uploads their estate planning documents would consent to sharing this data with the wealth manager to enhance the level of advice they can receive. The client can then opt to meet with a financial advisor to discuss their plan or a financial advisor can proactively reach out to set up a meeting. This service would add value for clients while also providing data wealth managers can use better understand their client base.

Estate planning technology can also improve goals-based advice by allowing advisors to provide visualizations that illustrate the alignment of an estate plan with a client’s goals. For example, a client may have a goal of gifting $1 million to their child at the end of their lifetime. Traditional goals-based wealth management technology may estimate that $500,000 invested in an equity portfolio today will allow the client to achieve this goal given their life expectancy. While the result of this analysis is financially intuitive, it fails to account for the structure of a client’s estate plan.

Today, financial advisors are required to revisit the estate planning documents to ensure the plan aligns with this financial goal. Alternatively, overlaying estate planning technology would allow the financial advisor to automatically see that the estate plan needs to be updated. This would improve their initial recommendation by suggesting that the client opens a trust to more effectively increase the probability and magnitude of wealth that can be transferred in a tax-efficient manner. By leveraging estate planning technology, financial advisors will be able to provide more holistic advice to their clients in real time.

Estate planning technology also creates opportunities to engage future generations. Estate planning attorneys recommend that clients open communication about their estate plan to prepare heirs to receive an inheritance. However, many clients may be hesitant to share the full extent of their estate plan with their children and grandchildren. Digital estate planning platforms can enable customized views of an estate plan with options to limit the information shared with heirs. This will allow financial advisors to engage future generations in estate planning discussions in a way that aligns with their clients’ wishes. These discussions provide a setting for financial advisors to build rapport with future generations and improve the ability of wealth managers to retain assets during wealth transfer events.

As much as $68 trillion in wealth will be passed down to Millennial and Gen X inheritors in the U.S. over the next 25 years. Disruptive estate planning technology will make it easier for financial advisors to prepare clients for this upcoming wealth transfer.

Vanilla, a Wealthtech startup disrupting the estate planning space, is leading the charge by creating a platform with automated estate reports, intuitive visualizations, and attorney support for financial advisors. Their technology saves financial advisors time, automates the monitoring of a client’s estate plan, and provides an accessible digital representation of the plan.

FP Alpha, another technology company focused on enabling financial advisors, has developed artificial intelligence that can interpret estate planning documents and generate plan analysis instantly. Advisors and clients can upload existing estate planning documents to generate key insights and quickly identify areas for improvement within the plan. Depending on the complexity of the estate plan, this technology could save financial advisors hours of parsing through trust and estate documents to piece together an understanding of their clients’ plans. Wealth managers who leverage this technology will increase the capacity of their financial advisors to serve more clients, while also enabling them to provide better advice.

As wealth managers prepare for an immense transition of wealth to Millennial and Gen X inheritors, effective digital strategy has become increasingly important. Currently, the estate planning practice within wealth management is a highly manual and time-intensive service offering where digitization has lagged. New technologies are disrupting estate planning through artificial intelligence, enhanced visualization of estate plans, and automated reporting. This technology will make estate planning services more accessible to the mass affluent client segment, which provides a unique opportunity for wealth managers to engage previously underserved clients who are the future of their industry.

Matthew Berkowitz is managing principal, U.S. wealth & asset management strategy practice lead, and Eden Afriat is a Senior Consultant, both at Capco.

November 3, 2021

Air Force Financial Management developing new acquisition strategy as part of IT modernization push

The Air Force’s Business office of the Assistant Secretary for Fiscal Administration and Comptroller (FM) wishes to get absent from paying all the IT contract provider fees it currently pays to the Standard Services Administration. Jeanette Duncan, chief details officer for FM, explained it’s the following huge drive in the IT modernization tactic she’s been overseeing given that she took more than as CIO of the place of work.

“I’ve used the last, I want to say, four months — it feels almost certainly longer — accumulating the details points for exactly where we as an FM neighborhood are shelling out our dollars on it,” Duncan said during an Oct 29 AFCEA Luncheon. “My hope and target is to acquire an acquisition tactic and perform with [the Air Force District of Washington] to go ahead, to have a auto that it can leverage as just one group. But it will not be tomorrow, and it won’t be quickly, since almost nothing goes as fast as I ever want it to.”

Duncan reported her system has been taking part in out correctly so much although. It targeted on four core regions:

Electronic transformation
Techniques rationalization
Modernizing enduring methods
Supporting audit readiness

To complete these tasks, Duncan claimed FM is on the lookout at making use of simplified smart methods, to contain standardizing business enterprise tactics and applying robotic automation. In point, she claimed FM is now an Air Force Middle of Excellence for robotics and artificial intelligence.

A person area the place Duncan explained her business office has manufactured a large amount of development in the previous 12 months by implementing intelligent automation is on its knowledge strategy.

“We’ve finished a large amount with robotics. We’re operating on an AI capacity. But this was the region where we worked on an audit, and we experienced a great yr, we experienced projected our figures and the 12 months just before, when I 1st arrived on board, 80{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of our caps bought shut,” she said. “This 12 months, 87{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of all the IT caps shut for the Air Drive, 87{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of what was submitted was shut. We exceeded our objectives for submission by 151{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}. Every single just one of the metrics that I experienced set for this year, we exceeded by everywhere from 15-to-233{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.”

Duncan also explained the office employed its first at any time chief facts officer.

One particular of the largest troubles Duncan said her place of work faces now is bettering its id manage and obtain administration (ICAM). In simple fact, she said “access controls, our segregation of duties and configuration administration, make up 83{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of the audit results for FM’s IT, and 59{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of that is ICAM.”

“So we’ve been participating with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Defense Information Systems Agency] on a pilot for their new stack to tackle ICAM,” she stated. “The Air Drive also has its own stack for the enterprise side of matters that it’s been shifting ahead with. The architecture will transform a tiny bit about the subsequent pair of yrs due to the fact they’re setting up with resources that they have or that they experienced made investments in, and then they are likely to evolve it to be far more federated and intertwined a small little bit much more with what OSD stack appears like. But this is where by we’re starting off.”

Duncan’s goal is to align with DoD’s total plans, which implies 33{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of units working with ICAM by the fourth quarter of FY 2023, and 50{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} a single 12 months later on.

Duncan claimed her place of work is also in advance of a Authorities Accountability Place of work audit, which claimed it wanted a workforce review to determine irrespective of whether the capabilities and instruction of her staff matched the needs to increase on its targets. But Duncan stated she’d currently instituted just that type of review.

“We had already began earlier this calendar year, performing an evaluation as to what techniques do we want,” she explained. “So the subsequent phase in this procedure is likely to be seeking at the folks that we at present have on hand and indicating, ‘Okay, do we have all those gaps? Or do we have those people folks that have these abilities so we can plug them in? Or do we require to make some additional investments in schooling? Do we need to have to build and search for cross practical alternatives, where by we can deliver our men and women out to do this work with other people?’ So then they bring back again all those classes acquired and that knowledge back household to us. So that is ramping up.”