The Defense Personnel Support Center in Philadelphia, for instance, has used the technology to lower operating costs, boost productivity and deliver supplies to DoD mess halls, commissaries and hospitals within 72 hours instead of the average 60 days under the old system. EFT enables funds to be transferred quickly via a nationwide automated clearinghouse network. Vouchers now are paid within five days instead of an average of 57 days under the paper system. The Veterans Affairs Department uses EDI to pay invoices at 170 hospitals. But despite these success stories and those at private sector organizations such as Eastman Kodak, General Motors and Wal-Mart, EDI still has not found its way into the mainstream.
Agencies find the technology difficult and expensive to implement.
X12 EDI standard. Mapping software is used to rearrange incoming data into individual user formats. The other problem was that not very many vendors were using it either. Companies, particularly small businesses, say they cannot afford to pay the fees for value-added networks and build the appropriate network infrastructures for routing transactions. New transaction and payment products from companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Premenos Corp. have made the World Wide Web a user-friendly vehicle for government procurement activities.