Background

Traditionally, the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process has been paper-based, labor intensive, and heavily dependent upon manual and repetitive data inputs from multiple functional communities. This environment restricts access to source data provided by various contractual, financial, and logistic documents and in numerous Automated Information Systems (AISs). The DoD Paperless Contracting initiative was created in response to the DoD Comptroller's Management Reform Memorandum #2 of 21 May 1997 – "Moving to a Paper-free Contracting Process by January 1, 2000 ". The WAWF-RA initiative is built on a foundation of full utilization of source data input – shared electronic documents, data, and information.

What is DoD Paperless Contracting ?

The DoD Paperless Contracting Integrated Product Team (PC-IPT) plans and reports progress on Military Service and Defense Agency efforts to meet the goal of eliminating all DoD required non-digital transactions (e.g., paper documents, forms, etc.) from the DoD contracting process.

DoD WAWF-RA is a Paperless Contracting application to eliminate paper from the receipt/acceptance and invoice/payments process of the DoD contracting life cycle, especially during transfers between offices--the hand-offs should be electronic, not paper.

What is DoD Wide Area WorkFlow-Receipt and Acceptance (WAWF-RA) ?

DoD has several tools available to help improve the receipt, management, processing, storage, retrieval, and organization into folders of documents required in the bill paying process. These tools include the Electronic Document Management (EDM), Electronic Document Workflow (EDW), Shared Data Warehouse (SDW), and Electronic Document Access (EDA) systems as well as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards.

Each of these technologies has been independently developed and tested, and has reached a reasonable level of maturity. A technical approach for integrating and applying EDM, EDW, SDW, EDA, and EDI solutions with Web interactive forms has been demonstrated in the WAWF-RA business solution. The goal demonstrated was to enable authorized Government Vendors and DoD personnel access to the documents required for a payment action in a "paperless" environment. This goal having been accomplished, the next step is to expand the scope to providing paperless contracting, receiving, and invoicing DoD-wide.

WAWF-RA provides the baseline technology for Government Vendors and authorized DoD personnel to generate, capture, and process receipt and payment-related documentation, via interactive Web-based applications. Authorized DoD users are notified of pending actions and are presented with a collection of documents required to process the contracting or financial action. When the payment system is capable of receiving EDI transactions, the WAWF-RA system will send the appropriate EDI transaction sets.

The DoD partners for WAWF-RA are as follows:

• DoD Paperless Contracting Integrated Product Team (PC-IPT)
• Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)
• Joint Electronic Commerce Program Office (JECPO)
• Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
• Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
• Military Services

WAWF-RA Application Objectives

The WAWF-RA Application objectives are as follows:

• Create an Electronic Commerce environment using existing tools.
• Demonstrate process improvements in bill paying and accounting operations.
• Reduce operating costs.
• Reduce unmatched disbursements.
• Leverage EDA, EDM, EDW, and EDI capabilities coupled with Web technology to process payment information.

WAWF-RA Application Benefits

The anticipated WAWF-RA benefits are as follows:

• Elimination of Paper-Based Support Functions: From a management and cost savings standpoint, the implementation of WAWF-RA will eliminate numerous support functions required for the current paper based process. With the electronic capture, storage, and retrieval of required documents, the supporting infrastructure which includes mail, file and copy rooms and their associated personnel no longer need to be maintained.
• Global Accessibility: Multiple users will be able to globally access documents which will streamline processing, reduce the need for re-keying, improve accuracy, and provide real time processing and access to document status. Users of the system will be able to research discrepancies, history or status related to past payment, shipment, or invoices, without having to involve individuals from other organizations within the process.  DoD Vendors will be able to submit their invoices electronically, and access contract payment records and status.
• Accuracy of Documents: Current problems such as unmatched disbursements, duplicate payments, and payment delays can be alleviated using the WAWF-RA system.
• Secure and Auditable Transactions: Access to appropriate functions and documents will be controlled through the user registration process. In addition, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates will be used to verify user identification, and to digitally sign documents when required.

What Does the WAWF-RA Application Allow Me to Do ?

For Vendors: Vendors can submit invoices and receiving reports electronically using existing Electronic Commerce methods. Additional choices are now available: Web interactive forms and straight push from Vendor automated systems (FTP). These new choices do not result in significant cost or require changes to existing processes.

Additionally, the Vendor will receive system-generated emails advising them of action taken by the Government Inspection and Acceptance Officials. If a receiving report or invoice is rejected, the Vendor will have the capability to correct the data and resubmit-thus only the individual data elements need to be corrected as opposed to retyping the entire document. Finally, the Vendor will be able to view previously submitted documents and determine the current status, review actions taken by Government officials (to include access to the name, email and phone numbers), and as appropriate initiate follow-on actions.

For Government Inspection and Acceptance Officials: The on-line ability to review receiving reports and compare products/services to the contract terms will assist these officials in performing their jobs. The ability to electronically reject improper documents for modification will also assist these offices in their reviews. Finally, the capability to electronically document inspection and/or acceptance and digitally sign the information will ensure prompt presentation of the required data to the payment office. Manual mailing of documents or the local manual updating of legacy systems will be eliminated. These capabilities are available as part of the Web application only.

For Government Payment Officials: The creation of electronic payment folders for DFAS payment functions and the wide-area availability of these folders are new options. Ability to provide legacy payment systems EDI transaction sets to limit the re-keying of data and associated errors will increase accuracy and reduce manpower requirements. The ability to review and reject, with comments, improper invoices for correction and resubmission will reduce the number of calls from Vendors asking why the invoice was rejected or what the status of the payment is while the rejection is in the mail being returned today. This capability is available via the Web only.

For Vendors, Inspection and Acceptance Officials, and Government Payment Officials: The system-generated email notifications of actions taken will assist all parties in monitoring the process and initiating corrective or follow-up actions.

Document Access - View Only: In addition to the roles outlined above, additional personnel who have a need to view documents can be granted access in a view only mode. Once a document has been captured and processed it is made available for view only. Access to the documents is limited by the Contractor (Vendor) and Government Entity (CAGE) code or the Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DoDAAC), to which the individual is responsible for monitoring. A single electronic copy of the document to be accessed by any authorized user with Web capability is available. Authorized Government personnel are able to view the contract, receiving reports, and invoices. Vendors will be able to query and view their previously submitted documents.