We have  previously testified that the federal government has spent billions of  dollars on failed IT investments, such as  the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Expeditionary Combat Support  System, which was canceled in December 2012, after spending more  than a billion dollars and failing to deploy within 5 years of initially  obligating funds; the Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Border Initiative  Network program, which was ended in January 2011, after the  department obligated more than $1 billion to the program, because it  did not meet cost-effectiveness and viability standards; the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Financial and Logistics  Integrated Technology Enterprise program, which was intended to be  delivered by 2014 at a total estimated cost of $609 million, but was  terminated in October 2011 due to challenges in managing the  program; the Office of Personnel Management’s Retirement Systems  Modernization program, which was canceled in February 2011, after  spending approximately $231 million on the agency’s third attempt to  automate the processing of federal employee retirement claims; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, DOD, and the  National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s National Polar- orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, which was a tri- agency weather satellite program that the White House Office of  Science and Technology stopped in February 2010 after the program  spent 16 years and almost $5 billion; and the VA Scheduling Replacement Project, which was terminated in  September 2009 after spending an estimated $127 million over 9  years. These and other failed IT projects often suffered from a lack of disciplined  and effective management, such as project planning, requirements  definition, and program oversight and governance. Improving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations

Although the executive branch has undertaken numerous initiatives to  better manage the more than $80 billion that is annually invested in IT,  federal IT investments too frequently fail or incur cost overruns and  schedule slippages, while contributing little to mission-related outcomes. The recent IT reform legislation  holds promise for improving agencies’ acquisition of IT, and the Office of  Management and Budget (OMB) is developing guidance for agencies to  implement its provisions. Implementing these provisions, along with our  outstanding recommendations, is necessary for agencies to demonstrate  progress in addressing this high-risk area. However, these reviews accounted for less than 20  percent of medium- or high-risk investments government-wide. As of  August 2012, there were 162 such at-risk investments across the  government. Further, we reviewed four selected agencies and found they  had held TechStats on 28 investments. In 2010, it called for  agencies’ major investments to deliver functionality every 12 months and,  since 2012, every 6 months. However, we recently reported that less than half of selected investments  at five major agencies planned to deliver capabilities in 12-month  cycles. To help the government achieve such  transparency, in June 2009, OMB established a public website (referred  to as the IT Dashboard) that provides detailed information on major IT  investments at 27 federal agencies, including ratings of their performance  against cost and schedule targets.information is intended to allow OMB; other oversight bodies, including  Congress; and the general public to hold agencies accountable for results  and performance. The public dissemination of this  As of May 2015, according to the IT Dashboard, 178 of the federal  government’s 738 major IT investments—totaling $8.7 billion—were in  need of management attention (rated “yellow” to indicate the need for  attention or “red” to indicate significant concerns). Further reducing transparency, OMB does not update the public version  of the Dashboard as it and the agencies work to assist in the formulation  of the President’s annual budget request. Among other things, we made recommendations to  OMB aimed at improving the reporting of achieved savings. The new IT acquisition reform requirements codified in the law, when fully  implemented, should help address key issue areas identified in our high- risk report related to the management of IT investments. Finally, OMB’s proposed guidance also includes requirements to help  support agency implementation of the roles and responsibilities for CIOs  and other senior agency officials (i.e., the common baseline). As noted in that report, from October  2009 through December 2014, we made 737 recommendations to  improve agencies’ management of their IT acquisitions; however, as of  January 2015, only about 23 percent of these had been fully  implemented. Also in our high-risk report, we stated that OMB and agencies should  demonstrate measurable government-wide progress in the following key  areas:
OMB and agencies should, within 4 years, implement at least 80  percent of GAO’s recommendations related to the management of IT  acquisitions and operations. In summary, with the recent passage of IT reform legislation, the federal  government has an opportunity to improve the transparency and  management of IT acquisition and operations, and strengthen the  authority of CIOs to provide needed direction and oversight. Data Center Consolidation: Reporting Can be Improved to Reflect  Substantial Planned Savings. November 6, 2013.
Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government invests more than $80 billion annually in IT. However, these investments frequently fail, incur cost overruns and schedule slippages, or contribute little to mission-related outcomes. This underperformance of federal IT projects can be traced to a lack of disciplined and effective management and inadequate executive-level oversight. Accordingly, in February 2015, GAO added improving the management of IT acquisitions and operations to its high-risk list—a list of agencies and program areas that are high risk due to their vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are most in need of transformation.
GAO was asked to testify on its designation of the management of IT acquisitions and operations as a federal high-risk area and the impact of recent legislation on IT acquisition reform. In preparing this statement, GAO relied on its previously published work in these areas.

What GAO Found

Federal investments in information technology (IT) have often resulted in multimillion dollar cost overruns and years-long schedule delays, with questionable mission-related achievements. Further, the implementation of initiatives to improve IT acquisitions has been inconsistent. For example, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established a process for holding face-to-face investment performance reviews between agencies and OMB (referred to as “TechStats”). However, as of 2013 less than 20 percent of at-risk investments across the government had undergone such reviews, even though GAO has identified a number of ongoing IT investments with significant issues that require attention. OMB also requires investments to deliver capabilities every 6 months, but as GAO reported in 2014, less than half of selected investments at five major agencies planned to deliver capabilities in 12-month cycles.
To facilitate transparency across the government in acquiring and managing IT investments, OMB established a public website—the IT Dashboard—to provide detailed information on major investments at federal agencies. As of May 2015, the Dashboard showed that 178 of the government's 738 major investments—totaling $8.7 billion—were in need of management attention due to their risk. Moreover, OMB does not update the public version of the Dashboard while the President's budget request is being formulated, most recently for more than 6 months. GAO has made multiple recommendations to improve the Dashboard.
Further opportunities for savings and efficiency exist in agencies' spending on “commodity” IT (e.g., IT infrastructure, enterprise systems such as e-mail, and systems that perform administrative functions) and the consolidation of federal data centers. The table below shows savings realized or planned from the consolidation of federal data centers.
However, limitations exist in how agencies report savings in these areas: better tracking them would provide for greater transparency and oversight.
Recognizing the importance of these issues, a law was recently enacted aimed at reforming federal IT acquisition. This legislation should help address the key issue areas identified in GAO's high-risk designation. OMB has released proposed guidance for agencies to implement provisions of this law, to include implementing roles and responsibilities for senior agency officials. To improve the management of IT acquisitions and operations, it is also critical for agencies to implement GAO's prior recommendations and demonstrate measurable government-wide progress in key areas such as delivering IT systems incrementally and realizing planned data center savings.

What GAO Recommends

From October 2009 through December 2014, GAO made 737 recommendations to OMB and agencies to improve the management and oversight of IT. As of January 2015, only about 23 percent of these had been fully implemented.