The Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ Foreign Military Sales – Army Case Execution System Product Office, a.k.a. FMS-ACES, has launched a competitive prototype effort to develop new products to support the FMS community.

Under the competitive prototype phase, two vendors will develop their prototypes through August to provide the FMS-ACES with the capability to plan and perform case initiation and implementation, logistics, financial execution and forecasting activities.

“FMS-ACES is looking at our vendors to attack the current problems with modern solutions using an Agile approach,” said Aric Sherwood, acting assistant program executive officer at PEO EIS.

“For PEO EIS, a guiding principle in Agile is about getting value to users in the form of working software as quickly as possible,” Sherwood said.

The prototype phase will culminate in technology demonstrations in which the Army will select one offering that best fits the needs of the FMS community and its stakeholders.

FMS-ACES is part of PEO EIS’ Defense Integrated Business Systems portfolio that is tasked with modernizing the U.S. Army’s FMS case implementation, execution and closure system.

A package of four bills that would provide $95 billion in military aid for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature after the Senate passed the package in a 79-18 vote Tuesday, Reuters reported.

In a statement published Tuesday, the president called the legislation as a measure that seeks to strengthen national security and demonstrate U.S. leadership in advancing freedom and democracy and fighting tyranny and oppression.

“I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,” added Biden.

The package would provide $61 billion in funding for Ukraine to help the country counter the Russian invasion that started in February 2022.

The other bills would allocate $26 billion for Israel and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to help “counter communist China,” according to the report.

A potential ban on the social media platform TikTok and new sanctions on Iran are also included in the package, which passed the House on Saturday.

The report noted that the House voted 311-112 to approve the package’s Ukraine funding portion.

The Government Accountability Office has found in a new report that the Federal Audit Clearinghouse responsible for reviewing federal grant audits cannot identify recipients that did not submit a single audit, providing federal agencies with inadequate data to conduct oversight.

GAO also found that the Office of Management and Budget has not designated an entity to initiate a government-wide single audit quality review since 2007 and recommended that the office conduct such a review at a regular interval.

According to GAO, a government-wide review is crucial to helping federal agencies identify issues in the quality of single audits that can impact the quality and completeness of FAC information.

To address this concern, GAO recommended that Congress consider amending the Single Audit Act to require OMB to perform regular government-wide single audit quality reviews and submit a report on the findings from each review to the appropriate committees of Congress.

The U.S. Army has christened the first production model of its M10 Booker combat vehicle, manufactured by General Dynamics’ land systems division, during a ceremony held at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Over the next several months, the vehicle will undergo operational tests with the 82nd Airborne Division in preparation for the fielding of the first operational company of M10 Booker combat vehicles in 2025, the Army said Thursday.

“The Army is undertaking its most significant transformation in several decades to dominate in large-scale combat operations in a multidomain environment, and the M10 Booker is a crucial part of that transformation,” said Doug Bush, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and a previous Wash100 awardee.

Prior to its deployment, the M10 Booker will undergo testing to evaluate the vehicle’s reliability and maintainability in the field.

“We will also put the vehicle through production qualification and testing in desert, arctic, temperate and tropical conditions, challenging it with obstacles like gaps and walls to scale, and engaging it with real word threats to ensure its survivability,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer for ground combat systems.

Bush is set to deliver a keynote speech at the Potomac Officers Club’s 9th Annual Army Summit on June 13. Register here to save your seat at the event and hear from Army officials about their most urgent priorities for 2024 and beyond.