Urgent actions are needed to address the ongoing challenges that the government faces in effective and efficient IT acquisition and management. Image: Wright Studio/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe GAO once again has sounded a warning regarding agency IT, saying that “critical actions” are needed in the acquisition and management of investments that “too frequently fail or incur cost overruns and schedule slippages while contributing little to mission-related outcomes.”
A report said that while IT acquisition and operations has been on its high-risk list since 2015, “Over time, this high-risk area has become increasingly more complex as technologies have matured and evolved. In addition, as technologies have changed, the skills needed to manage them have also changed.”
GAO further noted that since 2010 it has made 1,881 recommendations related to the area but 463 have not been implemented; 69 were designated as priority recommendations but 32 have not been implemented.
“Urgent actions are needed to address the ongoing challenges that the government faces in effective and efficient IT acquisition and management. Until OMB and federal agencies take the critical actions identified, they will continue to struggle with IT acquisitions that fail to consistently deliver capabilities in a timely manner, incur cost overruns and/or schedule slippages, and contribute little to mission-related outcomes,” it said.
The needed actions, it said, fall under the general categories of strengthening oversight and management of IT portfolios, implementing mature IT acquisition and development practices, and building federal IT capacity and capabilities.
Under the first, specific needed actions include: improve the effectiveness of key IT leadership positions, including the federal CIO, agency CIOs, and agency chief artificial intelligence officers; enhance agency efforts to strategically plan for and manage portfolios of IT systems, applications, and software licenses, and to manage existing IT system operations; improve the monitoring of, and transparency into, the performance of IT investments; and strengthen planning and budgeting for the acquisition of IT systems and services.
Under the second category, GAO stressed improving implementation of leading IT acquisition and development practices to effectively plan and manage IT project costs, schedules, risks, requirements, and testing; and strengthening the planning and management of cloud services, supply chains, and telecommunications services. Under the third were addressing workforce management challenges for the technically-capable workforce; improving federal customer experience for digital services; and ensuring effective management of emerging technologies.
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