Case Studies/U.S. Army
Process Automation
U.S. Army

$29.3M Annual Savings Through Intelligent Automation

DORA (Determination of Responsibility Assistant) automated 250,000+ vendor responsibility checks across Army, Navy, and Air Force -- reducing a 2-hour manual process to 5 minutes.

$29.3M
Annual savings
8,000+
Users served
250K+
Actions per year
96%
Faster task completion
Challenge

250,000+ Manual Vendor Checks Per Year

The U.S. Army processes over 250,000 contract actions annually. Each action required contracting officers to manually perform vendor responsibility determinations -- a compliance-critical task involving queries across multiple federal systems including SAM (System for Award Management) and FAPIIS (Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System).

This manual process consumed up to 2 hours per evaluation, involving logging into multiple systems separately, manually querying vendor DUNS numbers, taking screenshots for documentation, generating DoD-compliant policy memos, and maintaining audit trails for contract files.

With 250,000+ annual actions, this represented millions of hours of manual labor -- taking contracting professionals away from strategic acquisition work and focusing them on rote data retrieval and documentation.

Solution

DORA: Email-Triggered Intelligent Automation

Digital Charter architected and deployed DORA (Determination of Responsibility Assistant) -- a mission-critical RPA bot hosted in AWS GovCloud and aligned with both FISMA and FedRAMP Moderate controls. DORA automates the entire vendor responsibility check workflow through intelligent automation.

How DORA Works

  • Email-triggered workflow: Contracting officer emails vendor DUNS number in subject line
  • Automated system queries: Bot logs into SAM and FAPIIS, retrieves vendor status
  • Data validation: Validates data completeness and compliance requirements
  • Auto-generated documentation: Creates DoD-compliant policy memo with system screenshots
  • Email response: Returns complete package to contracting officer within 5 minutes

Technical Architecture

  • AWS GovCloud infrastructure with multi-zone architecture
  • AWS WorkMail & SES integration for email-driven orchestration
  • UiPath RPA platform for bot execution
  • FISMA/FedRAMP Moderate compliance with bastion host security
  • Terraform infrastructure-as-code for repeatable deployment
  • Serverless, event-driven execution reducing infrastructure overhead

Scalability & Customization

  • Modular design supporting agency-specific workflows and letterhead templates
  • Domain-based access controls for multi-agency deployment
  • Extensible architecture for additional policy triggers and custom validation rules
  • Cross-agency deployment via formal MOAs (Memorandums of Agreement)

Security & Compliance

  • Bastion host architecture for secure access
  • Encrypted data transmission throughout
  • Complete audit logging and traceability
  • FISMA / FedRAMP Moderate controls maintained

Validated Results

Financial Impact

  • $29.3M annual cost savings validated by Army Acquisition Innovation Leadership
  • 8,000+ active users across Army, Navy, and Air Force
  • 250,000+ annual automated vendor responsibility checks
  • 2 hours reduced to 5 minutes per check (96% faster)

Mission Impact

  • Freed contracting professionals to focus on strategic decision-making
  • Reduced compliance risk through automated processes
  • Improved audit readiness with standardized documentation
  • Accelerated contract execution enabling mission velocity
"We are empowering contracting officers to make better decisions. DORA pre-populates FAR 9.104 compliance data, but ultimate responsibility for vendor determinations remains with the human operator."

Army Acquisition Innovation Leadership

Timeline

November 2019
Pilot deployment
January 2020
Army-wide deployment
October 2020
Navy and Air Force adoption

Technologies Used

Cloud Infrastructure

AWS GovCloud
AWS WorkMail
AWS SES
Terraform

RPA Platform

UiPath

Security & Compliance

Bastion Host Architecture
FISMA / FedRAMP Moderate
Audit Logging

Integration

SAM API
FAPIIS API

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