OMB and agencies have made process with the Administration’s IT reform plan but more work remains to be done in a number of areas including putting in place performance measures for key action items.
OMB has established performance measures for four out of 10 action items GAO reviewed, including data center consolidation and cloud computing, but no performance measures exist for six other action items, including establishing a best-practices collaboration platform and developing a cadre of IT acquisition professionals, according to GAO-12-461.
It said that until outcome-oriented performance measures are in place for each of the action items, OMB would be limited in its ability to evaluate progress that has been made and to determine whether or not the initiative is achieving its intended results.
According to the report, OMB also needs to establish timelines for some actions items that are behind schedule. It said that until OMB and the agencies establish time frames for completing certain corrective actions, they increase the risk that key action items will not be completed or effectively managed to closure and diminish the likelihood of achieving the full benefits of IT reform.