ALTESS-developed application helps Special Ops view entire acquisition process

An application developed by PEO EIS’ Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Enterprise Systems and Services (ALTESS) product office recently received accolades within the Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community. 

The U.S. Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) Program Executive Office SOF Warrior/Program Manager Special Programs (PMSP) won the SOF Acquisition Innovator Award in August 2022 for its implementation of ALTESS’ Acquisition Program Management System (APMS). ALTESS designed and developed the web-based app to help PMSP solve an information-sharing problem within its unique program management offices.  

Back in 2017, PMSP wanted to gain better visibility into how money was flowing through the acquisition system. The organization had many systems and manual processes with no common operating picture. To complicate matters, there was no central database system available to aggregate classified acquisition information, so team members were unable to efficiently and effectively track and analyze spending within the multiple accounting systems being used at the time.

Team ALTESS got right to work on a custom APMS solution, leveraging tools they’d developed for other customers to enable PMSP to automate its business processes and make them transparent, track their internal spend and make reporting easier. In the end, ALTESS helped convert the PMSP portfolio — valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars — from spreadsheets, standalone files and multiple tracking databases to a manageable automated database system. 

With the implementation of the APMS tool, PEO SOF Warrior program offices have become more efficient and effective at executing their daily workload.

At its core, APMS is a database-driven website comprised of a suite of interconnected modules designed to provide a common operating picture of acquisition efforts. Unlike commercial off-the-shelf products, the APMS solution has no licensing fees. The ALTESS team attempted to make the tools straightforward enough that new users — typically associate program managers, comptrollers, contracting officers and budget analysts — can easily learn how to use them.  

Since fielding the APMS system at the end of 2017, ALTESS has received numerous requests from other organizations within the special operations community that want access to it. While the system currently is very Army SOCOM-specific, according to ALTESS, they are in the process of integrating other key USSOCOM components and can readily adapt the application to other organizations’ requirements. Moving forward, ALTESS plans to migrate the application from Windows servers to a platform that can be containerized and deployed in the cloud. The ALTESS team also will continue enhancing the solution’s data interconnectivity and data-loading capabilities, and enable users to make briefings straight from the app rather than via PowerPoint. 

“We see great potential for the expansion of our APMS solution throughout the military community, particularly on the classified side,” said Boyd Williams, product director for ALTESS. “APMS’ suite of capabilities has the power to provide an accurate and transparent view of how organizations are operating and executing their funds in the cradle-to-grave rapid acquisition system.” 

ALTESS, part of PEO EIS’ Enterprise Services portfolio, is a full lifecycle managed service provider that designs, develops and fields IT solutions for the U.S. Army.