As it has in the past, GAO again called for the
establishment of a chief management official to oversee
business transformation.
“The day-to-day demands placed on the Secretary of
Defense, the Deputy Secretary, and others make it
difficult for these leaders to maintain the oversight,
focus, and momentum needed to resolve the weaknesses in
DoD’s overall business operations,” according to GAO.
Legislation pending in the Senate would require the
establishment of a CMO that would be appointed by the
President and confirmed by the Senate for a seven-year
term.
GAO also called on the Defense CIO to review 56 systems,
reclassified from business systems to national security
systems, to determine how they should be properly
reported on in the fiscal 2007 budget request. DoD agreed.
In response to an earlier draft of the report, DoD said
it has delegated modernization management authority for
defense business systems to each business area – and that
the deputy secretary of defense has transferred program
management, oversight, and support responsibilities for
business transformation efforts from the Office of the
Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, to the Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics.
