The IRS is not in compliance with laws and regulations regarding software licensing nor with recommendations in that area from past audits, an IG report has said in the latest of a series of reports finding problems in IT there.
The report said the agency has made progress toward meeting 14 recommendations in three prior reports, but that the IRS prematurely closed 11 of them. “Specifically, the IRS has not developed policy and guidance or roles and responsibilities for managing software asset licenses as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library; implemented a specialized software license tool(s) designed to discover, track, and manage software license deployment and usage; or developed standard operating procedures for using the tool(s),” it said.
Further, the agency is only “in the early stages” of complying with laws and regulations requiring agencies to establish a comprehensive software license policy that includes establishing an inventory of software license spending, tracking and maintaining software licenses, and establishing goals and objectives of the software license management program.
A separate report said that the IRS has made progress toward adopting a formalized process for continual information technology service improvement by establishing the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. However, it said that due to budgetary limitations, the project has “essentially stagnated, with no significant advancements being made in fiscal year 2017 (and with this trend most likely continuing in fiscal year 2018 and beyond).”
However, management disagreed with a recommendation that it redirect any remaining resources assigned to expanding ITIL implementation towards higher IT priorities.
