The Department of Homeland Security should limit investment
in IT systems until its IT strategic management framework is
sufficiently defined and its CIO has sufficient authority to
effectively implement it, the General Accounting Office has
said.
It said DHS is developing an IT systems integration strategy
prior to finalizing and implementing an IT strategic plan, an
enterprise architecture, and IT capital planning and investment
control processes.
GAO said these are essential to achieving systems integration.
DHS said they would be in place by the end of 2004.
DHS said other factors such as insufficient staffing as well
as competing priorities such as setting up department-wide
email, and near-term high-payoff opportunities have slowed
down the development of an IT strategic management framework,
said GAO.
So far, DHS and its component organizations have taken steps
to align various IT investments with the broader DHS strategic
direction. Steps include a review and approval process of
major investments before departmental boards, continuing with
the IT plans already in place at component agencies and
conducting department wide IT investment staff meetings.
However, it said these steps do not adequately ensure
strategic alignment throughout DHS. For example, staff
meetings rely too heavily on oral communication about complex
issues not yet fully defined, increasing the likelihood of
miscommunication and missteps.
Another problem: DHS’s CIO does not have authority over
department wide IT spending, something GAO says its own
research indicates is important to effectively integrate
different IT systems.
