Commerce Unifies Financial Systems With BAS Cloud Platform

The Commerce Department’s Business Applications Solution (BAS) program is helping bureaus consolidate separate financial, acquisition and data reporting systems into a single cloud platform, officials said Tuesday at Oracle’s Federal Forum in Washington, D.C.

Howard Osborne, deputy director of Financial Management Systems, said the BAS program is eliminating data silos by taking a holistic approach to how the department manages acquisition and procurement. As Commerce looks to the next implementation phase, Osborne said success will rely on the bureaus’ ability to continue seeing themselves as one entity rather than individuals.

“It’s not about individual bureaus or customers, it’s about how we orchestrate this change and continue transformation in a way that’s effective and delivers on [an agency’s mission],” said Osborne.

Sharing Lessons Learned

Commerce shifted from a “stovepiped, phased approach” to one that improves communication across bureaus, allowing teams to identify what works and what needs improvement during implementation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — one of the first bureaus to go live with BAS in October 2023 — shared lessons learned in real time as the Census Bureau deployed the system in October 2025, helping avoid duplicating pitfalls.

A February 2024 report from the Commerce Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the new system was “not completely functional for several weeks, creating backlogs in processing invoices and travel vouchers.” The report also stated that the BAS program’s budget increased by $12.7 million, to $353 million, after NOAA’s 1-year schedule delay.

Census Bureau took recommendations from the OIG report and from NOAA to successfully deploy the system one day ahead of schedule, the bureau’s CFO Fernandez Boards said.

“Like any system implementation, we had bumps in the road,” Boards said. “They were small bumps, but it’s important to address those quickly and get everything up to the maturity level they need to be at for the new system.”

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is among the next Commerce bureaus set to deploy BAS, with a planned go-live date of October 2026. Osborne said teams are developing new approaches to monitor daily operations and track implementation progress to avoid further delaying the department’s deployment.

NIST’s acting CFO Lindra David said her agency’s rollout is one of the larger, more complex implementations due to multiple interfaces and external stakeholders. David said that lessons learned from NOAA and the Census Bureau’s experience is positioning NIST and its customers to operate the BAS program from day one.

“We’re able to do testing that wasn’t done previously, because we’re taking in all of those lessons learned, not only at the bureau level, but at the departmental level,” said David. “We’re making sure that we’re learning and using every tool that we have available to make our implementation successful.”

Educating the Workforce

Officials emphasized that modernization efforts require buy-in across all levels of the workforce. Maintaining morale and clearly communicating benefits can help drive adoption of new systems and processes. Boards said engaging employees at department-wide events and demonstrating how BAS improves user experience and reduces delays helps shift perceptions.

“Our thought was that just because we developed it doesn’t mean that we’re the only ones that get to use it,” said Boards. “Showing folks the art of the possible.”

Osborne added that emphasizing the program’s return on investment helps explain the transition and its potential to improve efficiency. He said the department is relying on a center of excellence model and transparency to align people and resources.

“First we have to get our house in order and make sure that we’re leveraging all the skills and talents within the department the right way,” said Osborne. “And as leaders, we have to make sure that we’re engaging with our team so they recognize that transparency is healthy and the right thing to do.”