Army navigates challenges to deliver modernized GFEBS G-Invoicing solution

U.S. Army Program Executive Office (PEO) Enterprise and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management & Comptroller (ASA-FM&C) are continuing to modernize the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS).

GFEBS’ new G-Invoicing capability, which was successfully released Nov. 10, will provide automated intragovernmental account balancing with the U.S. Treasury to improve control over material weaknesses and audit readiness for the Army.

The Army GFEBS functional community, in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, mandated the development of a solution using Treasury’s G-Invoicing for intergovernmental reimbursable agreements. 

Developed by Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the new online G-Invoicing platform enables funding officials, program officials and payment approvers to originate and settle buyer and seller inter-governmental transactions (ICT). The end goal is for accounts payable to equal accounts receivable. Leveraging third-party commercial off-the-shelf software, the solution offers a graphical user interface-based approach to managing the transaction lifecycle. 

Advancing the new capability was not without its challenges.

“Imagine five government agencies with five different interpretations of Agile methodology working together to develop this modernized G-Invoicing capability,” said Carlton White, product director for GFEBS. “The teams worked hard to manage the dynamics of this effort and are proud to provide a seamless end-to-end integration between the U.S. Army’s GFEBS enterprise resource planning financial system and the Treasury’s system.”

GFEBS users will be able to systematically pass reimbursable agreements with other federal agencies via the Treasury’s system, ensuring the establishment of enterprise-level support agreements, improved communication and standardized processes between trading partners, transparency for each phase of the Fiscal Service Form 7600 processes, consistent data standards between Army and Treasury, and a streamlined settlement of inter-governmental payment and collection (IPAC).

The modernized solution will also simplify error handling processes, enhance auditability and improve financial reconciliation through advanced metrics and monitoring tools.

Matthew Tognarelli, director of business transformation and innovation at ASA-FM&C, emphasized that the new G-Invoicing capability aligns with Financial Information Management’s strategic goals. 

“This integration will provide the financial management workforce with the much needed tools to help achieve and maintain a favorable audit option,” said Tognarelli. “This will ultimately improve Army business processes and the internal control environment while leveraging data to improve Army operations.”

On the horizon, the GFEBS team is anticipating more capability releases with an iterative Agile approach, which will expand beyond reimbursable agreements. The next phase may include the Treasury’s 7600-EZ process with the potential to expand into interfund processing. GFEBS will be ready to deliver business excellence at the speed of relevance.