Defense Department to get single personnel, payroll system

The Defense Department has contracted with PeopleSoft Inc. to create a human resources and payroll system that will serve all active-duty service members and retirees. The Defense Integrated Human Resource System will serve 3.1 million military personnel. It will replace the military's current central payroll processing system as well as the separate human resources systems maintained by each service. "The entire military, all soldiers, seamen, airmen and marines, will be under the same system," said Ron Sullivan, vice president and general manager for PeopleSoft Federal. "It should eliminate some confusion. This is an opportunity for standardization." PeopleSoft announced that it had been awarded the contract for the new system Wednesday at FOSE, the annual federal information technology conference in Washington. The new Defense system will be created in phases. The first phase will be a one-year pilot project aimed at modernizing the human resources services for a subset of Defense employees. The first year of the contract is worth $7 million. If the pilot is successful, the contract will be extended to a total of three years and will be worth $120 million. The contract is Defense-wide, but will be handled through the Naval Sea Systems Command.