November 4, 2002
The Department of Energy began development of an integrated, agency-wide business
information system in 1998. As originally conceived, the Business Management Information
System (BMIS) was to integrate a new core financial management system with other business
related systems, such as procurement and human resources, and eliminate a number of legacy
program-level business related systems.
Development of the core accounting system component of BMIS began in September 2000.
This component, known as Phoenix, was intended to replace the Department's primary
accounting, financial reporting, and funds distribution systems, and was to be interfaced with
financial and business systems of operating contractors, national laboratories, and power
marketing administrations. Life cycle implementation and production costs for the Phoenix
portion of BMIS were projected to be about $82 million. We initiated this audit to determine
whether the development of BMIS satisfied Federal and Department systems development
requirements and goals and was aligned with the Corporate Systems Information Architecture.
Office of Inspector General
