The VA has announced plans to manage all its IT projects – not just highly problematic ones – under its program management and accountability system, which requires IT projects to deliver new functionality within six months and is designed to keep projects tied to established milestones.
The program was announced in June and VA said it was using it along with other management techniques to reform its IT management practices and provide better value, efficiency, and effectiveness for taxpayers’ dollars.
“We will end projects that don’t work, streamline those that do, and focus on the responsibility we have for achieving maximum value for our veterans,” said Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The department announced the temporary halt of 45 of its most problematic computer projects last summer so they could be fixed, and over the course of the next six months it restarted 32 of them, stopped 12, and continued the review of one, something the department says helped it avoid $54 million in costs in fiscal 2010.
“While much work remains to be done, PMAS has shown what can be achieved by forcing measured demonstrations of performance,” said Roger Baker, VA’s assistant secretary for information and technology.
