Of the 10 largest IT operations and maintenance investments in fiscal 2012, just one underwent an operational analysis to ensure it continues to meet agency goals, GAO has said in report that calls for stronger oversight of these kinds of investments.
It said, for example, that DHS performed an operational assessment, or OA, that addressed most factors that OMB calls for, though it did not address three otherfactors, such as those for comparing current cost and schedule against original estimates, according to GAO-14-66.
Agency officials cited several reasons for not assessing investments, including relying on budget submission and related management reviews that measure performance, but GAO maintains this approach is inadequate.
For the eight agencies GAO reviewed, mosttheir 401 major IT investments had components in development and in O&M – on which the government spends $59 billion each year. And for these "mixed lifecycle" projects, successful oversight of such investments should involve a combination of conducting OAs to address operational portions of an investment and establishing IT governance and program management disciplines to manage those portions under development, GAO maintains.
