Such a plan is instrumental  in helping agencies coordinate and guide improvement efforts. We also testified on significant risks facing the 2010 census. At a cost of about $13 billion, 2010 was the costliest decennial census in  history. developing systems necessary for the 2020 Decennial Census to help  avoid a repeat of the cost and performance issues that occurred during  the 2010 Decennial Census. Census Bureau Has Not Finalized Its Investment Management Plan

The bureau has developed a new investment management plan, called  the Enterprise Investment Management Plan, which is to apply to all  investments, including IT investments. Census Bureau Has Created a New System Development Methodology, but It Does Not Address Modifications Needed for Newer Models of Software Development

In February 2012, the bureau’s IT and 2020 Census Directorates, with the  assistance of a contractor, developed a new system development life- cycle methodology to improve the bureau’s ability to develop IT systems  and to address our prior 2005 recommendation to strengthen bureau- wide system development and management processes. The guide does not have guidance on how to adapt the  process and related work products to alternate development models. By utilizing overlapping requirements development and management  processes without a specified time frame for when these processes will  be integrated, the bureau is increasing the risk that IT investments,  particularly those intended for the 2020 Decennial Census, will face cost  overruns, schedule slippages, and performance shortfalls. Until the  bureau establishes and implements a consistent requirements  development and management process across the bureau that has clear  guidance for developing requirements at the strategic mission, business,  and project levels and is integrated with its new system development  methodology, it will not have assurance that requirements for IT systems  intended for the 2020 Decennial Census will be effectively developed or  managed. Census Bureau Has Not Finalized Plans for Implementing Investment Management and System Development Processes across the Bureau

While the bureau has drafted a new investment management plan, and  system development methodology, including requirements development  and management processes, key activities for effectively implementing  these processes across the bureau remain to be undertaken. As we noted in 2005, the bureau’s lack of a consistent bureau-wide  approach for IT investment management contributed to the bureau not  effectively and efficiently managing multimillion dollar investments,  including taking consistent and appropriate action when cost, schedule, or  performance expectations were not being met. According to the bureau’s timeline for 2020 Decennial Census planning, it  will begin operational development and system testing starting in fiscal  year 2015. Census Bureau Does Not Have Bureau- wide Workforce Planning Practices for IT Staff

Over the past year, the Census Bureau has taken limited steps to develop  IT human capital practices, including identifying critical IT occupations  and select competencies and conducting an inventory of these  competencies among its IT staff in June 2011. Effective IT workforce planning efforts are critical to ensuring the bureau  has the appropriate workforce in place to achieve its mission and  strategic goals, particularly in regards to the 2020 Decennial Census. While the bureau has begun to  improve its IT human capital practices including conducting an inventory  of select IT competencies, many key workforce planning practices remain  to be put in place, including conducting gap analyses and integrating IT  workforce planning bureau-wide. Recommendations for Executive Action

To strengthen and improve the bureau’s new investment management,  system development, and IT workforce management processes, we  recommend that the Acting Secretary of Commerce direct the Under  Secretary for Economic Affairs who oversees the Economics and  Statistics Administration, as well as the Acting Director of the U.S.  Census Bureau, take eight actions to address weaknesses in the  following IT management areas:
Establish guidelines for the frequency and membership of bureau  investment review boards and thresholds for these boards to escalate  cost or schedule variance issues to higher-level boards. Establish a process for directorates to coordinate on IT workforce  planning, including: (1) aligning IT workforce planning with strategic  planning and budget formulation; (2) involving appropriate  stakeholders and staff from each directorate; (3) identifying critical  occupations, skills, and competencies, and analyzing workforce gaps;  (4) developing strategies to address IT workforce gaps; (5) building  capacity to address workforce gaps; and (6) monitoring and  evaluating IT workforce planning efforts across the bureau, and  ensure this process is implemented across the bureau. In its  comments, the department stated that the Census Bureau concurred with  our eight recommendations and outlined steps it was taking to implement  the recommendations. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to evaluate the (1) effectiveness of the Census  Bureau’s policies, procedures, and processes for managing information  technology (IT) investments and system development and (2) the Census  Bureau’s development of effective practices for acquiring and maintaining  IT human capital skills.
Why GAO Did This Study

The 2010 Decennial Census, at a cost of approximately $13 billion, was the most expensive headcount in our nations history. Prior to the 2010 Decennial Census, the Census Bureau experienced significant challenges in managing its information systems leading to cost overruns and performance shortfalls which increased the cost of the 2010 census by almost $3 billion. Given the bureaus extensive use of IT in collecting, analyzing, and distributing information, GAO was asked to determine to what extent the bureau has developed (1) effective policies, procedures, and processes for managing IT investments and system development; and (2) effective practices for acquiring and maintaining IT human capital skills. To address these objectives, GAO identified leading practices in these areas, reviewed bureau policies and procedures to determine whether they followed these practices, and interviewed bureau officials.

What GAO Found

The U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau) has drafted a new investment management plan, system development methodology, and requirements development and management processes to improve its ability to manage information technology (IT) investments and system development, but additional work is needed to ensure these processes are effective and successfully implemented across the bureau. GAO and others have identified the importance of implementing critical processes within an agency to allow it to select, control, and evaluate its IT investments and effectively manage system development. The bureau has developed a new draft investment management plan which contains policies and guidance for managing IT projects; however, the plan does not explain when investments with cost or schedule variances should be escalated to higher-level boards for review, or when managers should provide updated investment information to a planned bureau-wide tracking tool. The bureau has also developed a new system development methodology guide, but the guide has critical gaps. For example, although there are five development process models allowed, including the traditional sequential approach and newer more iterative approaches, the guide does not explain how to adapt processes and related work products for newer iterative approaches. Furthermore, while the bureau has developed new draft requirements development and management processes for system development within individual bureau directorates, it has not established a consistent process bureau-wide as GAO recommended in 2005. Lack of a consistent bureau-wide process contributed to significant cost and performance issues in the 2010 Decennial Census. Although the bureau plans to begin operational development for the 2020 Decennial Census in fiscal year 2015, it has not finalized plans for implementing its new investment management and system development processes across the bureau. Until the bureau takes additional action to finalize and implement consistent, bureau-wide processes, it faces the risk that IT governance issues that adversely affected the 2010 Decennial Census will also impact the 2020 Decennial Census.
The bureau has begun to take steps to improve its IT workforce planning; however, many key practices consistent with principles for effective workforce planning remain to be put in place. In particular, there is no bureau-wide coordination of these workforce planning efforts. Each directorate is responsible for its own IT workforce planning and the bureau has not established any efforts to coordinate activities among directorates. While the bureau identified mission critical IT occupations and began an assessment of select mission critical competencies in June 2011, it does not plan to perform a bureau-wide IT competency assessment until the fall of 2012. Until bureau-wide IT workforce planning processes are established and the bureau develops specific plans to conduct an IT skills inventory and gap analysis, the bureau faces the risk that the appropriate IT workforce will not be in place to effectively develop and manage multimillion dollar investments in information systems and technology that will be needed for the 2020 Decennial Census.

What GAO Recommends

To strengthen and improve the Census Bureaus management of IT, GAO recommends that the Acting Secretary of Commerce take eight actions, including improvements to guidance for its planned IT investment process, a consistent requirements development and management process, an implementation plan and time frames for its investment management process and system development methodology, and coordination of IT workforce planning efforts. In written comments, the Acting Secretary concurred with our recommendations and described steps the bureau was taking to implement them.