VA Lacks Overall Business Process Improvement Strategy

The Clinger-Cohen Act requires agency heads to analyze the missions of the agency and, on the basis of this analysis, revise and improve the agency’s mission-related and administrative processes before making significant investments in supporting information technology. However, to date, VA has not committed to when it will have an overall business process improvement strategy to accomplish reengineering. As a result of these weaknesses, the department does not know whether it is making the right investments, how to control these investments effectively, or whether these investments have provided mission-related benefits in excess of their costs. VA’s CIO responsibilities are not limited primarily to information management. The Clinger-Cohen Act calls for CIOs to have information resources management as their primary duty. Conclusions

VA has not fully implemented critical provisions of the Clinger-Cohen Act and other information technology legislative reforms to achieve its “One VA” vision of becoming more customer-focused and delivering seamless service to veterans. Moreover, VA’s process for controlling information technology projects through periodic status and in-process reviews does not adequately monitor and manage its investments so as to detect or avoid problems early. To fulfill the requirements of the Clinger-Cohen Act and other information technology legislative reforms, we also recommend that the Secretary direct VA’s CIO to develop a detailed implementation plan with milestones for completing an integrated, departmentwide information technology architecture; fully implement a disciplined process for selecting information technology investments in which all decisions are based upon complete and current project information including estimated project costs, expected mission-related benefits, projected schedule, and risks; conduct formal in-process reviews at key milestones in a project’s life cycle, including comparing actual and estimated project costs, benefits, schedule, and risks, and provide these results, as well as the results of periodic project status reviews performed by VA components, to decisionmakers who will determine whether to continue, accelerate, or terminate information technology projects; and initiate post-implementation reviews for information technology projects within 12 months of implementation, to compare completed project cost, schedule, performance, and mission improvement outcomes with original estimates, and provide the results of these reviews to decisionmakers so that improvements can be made to VA’s information technology investment process. Comments From the Department of Veterans Affairs

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to examine how VA has implemented the following specific provisions of the Clinger-Cohen Act and other legislative reforms: reengineering business processes before acquiring information technology, completing an integrated information technology architecture, institutionalizing a disciplined information technology investment decision-making process; and appointing an agency CIO.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has implemented specific provisions of the Clinger-Cohen Act and other legislative reforms, including: (1) reengineering business processes before acquiring information technology; (2) completing an integrated information technology architecture; (3) institutionalizing a disciplined information technology investment decisionmaking process; and (4) appointing an agency Chief Information Officer (CIO).

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) VA has not fully implemented critical provisions of the Clinger-Cohen Act and other legislative reforms; (2) although VA has taken some initial steps, it has not adequately implemented these legislative reforms; (3) specifically, the Clinger-Cohen Act requires agencies to analyze their mission-related and administrative processes, and on the basis of this analysis, revise and improve these processes before making significant investments in supporting information technology; (4) although GAO's business process reengineering guide states that agencies should have an overall business process improvement strategy to accomplish reengineering, VA has not developed such a strategy; (5) VA also has not yet defined the departmentwide integrated information technology architecture needed to efficiently utilize information systems across the department; (6) in addition, VA has not institutionalized a disciplined process for selecting, controlling, and evaluating information technology as investments as required by the Clinger-Cohen Act; (7) specifically, VA decisionmakers did not have current and complete information such as cost, benefit, schedule, risk, and performance data at the project level, which is essential to making sound investment decisions; (8) in addition, VA's process for controlling and evaluating its investment portfolio is incomplete and, as a result, decisionmakers do not have the information needed to: (a) detect or avoid problems early; and (b) improve VA's investment process; (9) as a consequence, the department does not know whether it is making the right investments, how to control these investments effectively, or whether these investments have provided mission-related benefits in excess of their costs; (10) although the Clinger-Cohen Act requires agencies' CIOs to have information management as their primary duty, the responsibilities of VA's CIO are not limited primarily to information management; (11) instead, the CIO also functions as the department's Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer; and (12) as a result, information technology issues are not addressed promptly.