FMIS’ Design Addresses Previous Information System’s Shortcomings and Appears to Have the Capability to Meet BIA’s Needs

Recognizing the FACCOM system’s shortcomings, BIA worked with its  system developer to design a new management information system that  would assist in resolving many of the weaknesses identified with the old  system, including those related to difficulty of use and accuracy of data. To help facility managers develop accurate and consistent cost estimates  to address backlog items, FMIS is designed to operate with a software  program that helps facility managers accomplish industry standard cost  estimates for replacement, renovation, or construction projects over  $5,000. Our review of some updates conducted during fiscal year 2002 indicates  that AME’s reviews will continue to result in substantial changes in  backlog data. However, officials said that in fiscal year  2002, the untimely transfer of data from the field assessments to the  contractor’s information system and software compatibility problems  between the contractor’s information system and FMIS delayed the update  of backlog data for 33 schools for over a year. A BIA official told us that delays in introducing these updates into the  FMIS backlog could have some impact on their ability to prioritize or fund  repair and capital improvement projects, but not a significant impact for  two reasons. Our site visits to 8 BIA-funded schools did not disclose any instances  where serious problems were not being addressed. While facilities  management staff and school principals pointed out problems with their  facilities, we did not observe that the children were in an unsafe learning  environment with obvious safety or repair issues. Control Measures in Place for Ensuring Data Quality Are Largely Ineffective

The ability of FMIS to provide accurate and complete data depends on BIA  employees entering correct and timely information, but review processes  and training programs BIA has established for ensuring data quality have  been largely ineffective. Although BIA established this multilevel review process to improve the  quality of the data entered into FMIS, AME continues to reject half of the  proposed entries because they are inaccurate and incomplete. Such  actions are needed if BIA is to rely on its employees, rather than the  contractor, to ensure that it provides a safe and quality learning  environment for Indian children. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of this study were to determine (1) whether the Bureau of  Indian Affairs (BIA) new facilities management information system (FMIS)  addresses the former system’s shortcomings and meets BIA’s needs for  managing school facilities; (2) the status of BIA’s effort to validate the  accuracy and completeness of the data being transferred from the old  system into FMIS; and (3) how well BIA’s quality control measures are  working to ensure that new data entered into FMIS are accurate and  complete. To determine the extent to which FMIS was designed to address  weaknesses of the previous data processing system and how the new  system meets BIA’s facility management needs we reviewed contractor  reports, BIA documentation on the FMIS, and interviewed contractors and  BIA headquarters, regional, agency, and school facility management staff.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is responsible for providing over 48,000 children with a safe place to learn. In response to concerns that data in its old information system did not accurately reflect the condition of facilities, BIA acquired a new system, called the Facilities Management Information System (FMIS). GAO was asked to determine whether FMIS addresses the old system's weaknesses and meets BIA's management needs, whether BIA has finished validating the accuracy of data entered into FMIS from the old system, and how well the quality control measures are working for ensuring the accuracy of new data being entered into the system from individual schools.

What GAO Found

FMIS is designed to address the previous data system's shortcomings and appears to have the capability to meet BIA's management needs if the data that are entered into FMIS are correct and timely. The old system was hard to use and did not readily provide data for maintenance and repair efforts. FMIS's design appears to overcome these weaknesses. For example, FMIS has features that help facility managers make data more consistent, as well as tools for helping managers develop cost estimates for maintenance and construction projects. BIA's contractor has been correcting the data that were transferred to FMIS from the previous system, but issues such as software compatibility problems between the contractor's system and FMIS have delayed entry of some of the data for more than 1 year. BIA officials say that these problems are being addressed. They said the delay has not affected their ability to prioritize or fund repair and construction projects, and our review of the data indicated that most newly identified deficiencies will not need to be addressed for 2 to 5 years. Our review of data from 14 BIA schools and observations during site visits disclosed no instances in which these data problems resulted in an unsafe learning environment for children. Most measures for controlling the quality of new data BIA employees are entering into the system for individual schools are not working well. BIA has established a multilevel review process and training programs to help ensure that such data entries are complete and accurate, but BIA's contractor, in reviewing data at the end of this process, continues to find that nearly half of the proposed data entries coming through the system are inaccurate and incomplete. Data entries from one-third of 102 schools that entered data show a 100-percent error rate. As a result, BIA officials continue to rely on their contractor to ensure that FMIS reflects accurate and complete data on the condition of BIA's facilities.