Instead, both expenses and investment costs involving R&D activities are funded using RDT&E funds, regardless of any unit or system cost. 14 The E/I-T exception does not apply to any costs funded with RDT&E. 13 This statutory authority is an exception to the general fiscal law rule that all investment items must be purchased with OPA, instead enabling the use of OMA for these investment items. 12 However, the E/I-T exception is the colloquial term for the statutory authority that allows the Army to use OMA to purchase investments with a unit or system cost of $250,000 or less. The general fiscal law rule is that OMA can only be used to pay for expenses, and OPA can only be used to pay for investment items. 9 Expenses are the costs of resources consumed to operate and maintain an organization, 10 whereas investments are the costs that result in the acquisition of an end item that benefits future periods and are long-term in nature. The Expense/Investment Threshold ExceptionĪll costs are classified as either expenses or investments. These factors must be considered in applying the expense/investment threshold (E/I-T) and systems analysis, as appropriate. The correct appropriation for funding IT acquisitions is determined by analyzing the intended purpose, underlying tasks, and cost of the requirement. 4 Generally, OMA funds expense items 5 OPA funds investment items 6 and RDT&E funds research and development (R&D) activities required to create new products and capabilities. The most common appropriations for IT acquisitions are operation and maintenance, Army (OMA) 3 other procurement, Army (OPA) and research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E).
This article consolidates the various legal guidelines and provides a framework for the fiscal analysis crucial to an ever-changing military IT environment.
Army fiscal law attorneys must carefully analyze the underlying facts related to an IT acquisition under a scattered array of legal authorities. Funding an information technology (IT) 2 acquisition, however, is a complex area of fiscal law. Now more than ever, units seek to acquire the latest technological advances to communicate with ease across geographically dispersed footprint and to more efficiently accomplish their mission.
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