EEOC signs new financial management outsourcing pact

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced a new interagency agreement for financial management services with the Interior Department's National Business Center on Tuesday.

The agreement, which was finalized Friday, is worth $11.7 million over six and a half years. That total includes about $1.9 million for conversion to the new system, which should be completed by Sept. 30, 2007, and about $1.9 million in annual costs. Help desk support, accounting operations and systems management also are included in the deal. Interior's business center will use CGI Group Inc.'s Momentum Enterprise Solution package.

The center competed for EEOC's business against two other centers of excellence for financial management, one at the Transportation Department and another at the Treasury Department. The General Services Administration, which also hosts a financial management center of excellence, did not submit a bid. Jeffrey Smith, EEOC's chief financial officer, said the competition was based on technical offerings and price, and Interior's center prevailed partly because it had a track record of providing high-quality service.

EEOC has outsourced support services for its financial management system to that center since 2002. Smith said he has been particularly impressed with its high level of customer service. "I am just overwhelmed with the customer service mentality that the staff at DOI/NBC brings to it," he said. "It's almost like you're dealing with a private sector firm that has to make money."

Centers of excellence, which the Office of Management and Budget has encouraged agencies to join, offer a central location for support services for financial management, procurement, payroll and other administrative functions. While many small agencies have made the jump to centralized service centers, large departments have been more hesitant because of concerns about capabilities, privacy and readiness.

Smith said EEOC could not manage its financial systems on its own and working with a center of excellence enables his office to focus on analyzing data instead of managing it.

Since joining Interior's business center in 2002, EEOC has received its first clean audit opinions.