	Background

VA’s mission is to promote the health, welfare, and dignity of all  veterans in recognition of their service to the nation by ensuring that  they receive medical care, benefits, social support, and lasting  memorials. Over time, the use of IT has become increasingly crucial  to the department’s efforts to provide such benefits and services. VA Establishes Centralized Management Structure to Improve IT Accountability

The department officially began its initiative to provide the CIO with  greater authority over the department’s IT in October 2005. Important Steps Taken to Centralize Control of IT Resources but Their Effectiveness Will Depend on Additional Planned Actions

As part of its IT realignment, VA has taken important steps toward a  more disciplined approach to ensuring oversight of and  accountability for the department’s IT budget and resources. Within  the new centralized management structure, the CIO is responsible  for ensuring that there are adequate controls over the department’s  IT budget and for overseeing capital planning and execution. In  this regard, the department has (1) designated organizations with  specific roles and responsibilities for controlling the budget to  report directly to the CIO; (2) implemented an IT governance  structure that assigns budget oversight responsibilities to specific  governance boards; (3) finalized an IT strategic plan to guide,  manage, and implement its operations and investments; (4)  completed multi-year budget guidance to improve management of  its IT; and (5) initiated the implementation of critical management  processes. However, while VA has taken these important steps  toward establishing control of the department’s IT, it remains too  early to assess their overall impact because most of the actions  taken have only recently become operational or have not yet been  fully implemented. Thus, their effectiveness in ensuring  accountability for the resources and budget has not yet been clearly  established. As a second step, the department has established and activated  three governance boards to facilitate budget oversight and  management of its investments. However, according to Office of Information and Technology  officials, with the governance boards’ first involvement in budget  oversight having only recently begun (in May 2007), and with their  activities to date being primarily focused on formulation of the fiscal  year 2009 budget and execution of the fiscal year 2008 budget, none  of the boards has yet been involved in all stages of the budget  formulation and execution processes. Thus, they have not yet fully  established their effectiveness in helping to ensure overall  accountability for the department’s IT appropriations. Office of Information and Technology officials stated that, in  response to operational experience with the 2009 budget  formulation and 2008 budget execution, the department plans to  further enhance the governance structure. Nevertheless, although the multi-year programming guidance holds  promise for obtaining better information for portfolio management,  the guidance has not been fully implemented because it is applicable  to future budgets (for fiscal years 2010 through 2012). As a result, it  is too early to determine VA’s effectiveness in implementing this  guidance, and ultimately, its impact on the department’s IT portfolio  management. However, while the department had originally stated that its new  management processes would be implemented by July 2008, the IT  strategic plan indicates that key elements of these processes are not  expected to be completed until at least fiscal year 2011.
Why GAO Did This Study

The use of information technology (IT) is crucial to the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) mission to promote the health, welfare, and dignity of all veterans in recognition of their service to the nation. In this regard, the department's fiscal year 2009 budget proposal includes about $2.4 billion to support IT development, operations, and maintenance. VA has, however, experienced challenges in managing its IT projects and initiatives, including cost overruns, schedule slippages, and performance problems. In an effort to confront these challenges, the department is undertaking a realignment to centralize its IT management structure. This testimony summarizes the department's actions to realign its management structure to provide greater authority and accountability over its IT budget and resources and the impact of these actions to date. In developing this testimony, GAO reviewed previous work on the department's realignment and related budget issues, analyzed pertinent documentation, and interviewed VA officials to determine the current status and impact of the department's efforts to centralize the management of its IT budget and operations.

What GAO Found

As part of its IT realignment, VA has taken important steps toward a more disciplined approach to ensuring oversight of and accountability for the department's IT budget and resources. For example, the department's chief information officer (CIO) now has responsibility for ensuring that there are controls over the budget and for overseeing all capital planning and execution, and has designated leadership to assist in overseeing functions such as portfolio management and IT operations. In addition, the department has established and activated three governance boards to facilitate budget oversight and management of its investments. Further, VA has approved an IT strategic plan that aligns with priorities identified in the department's strategic plan and has provided multi-year budget guidance to achieve a more disciplined approach for future budget formulation and execution. While these steps are critical to establishing control of the department's IT, it remains too early to assess their overall impact because most of the actions taken have only recently become operational or have not been fully implemented. Thus, their effectiveness in ensuring accountability for the resources and budget has not yet been clearly established. For example, according to Office of Information and Technology officials, the governance boards' first involvement in budget oversight only recently began (in May 2007) with activities to date focused primarily on formulation of the fiscal year 2009 budget and on execution of the fiscal year 2008 budget. Thus, none of the boards has yet been involved in all aspects of the budget formulation and execution processes and, as a result, their ability to help ensure overall accountability for the department's IT appropriations has not yet been fully established. In addition, because the multi-year programming guidance is applicable to future budgets (for fiscal years 2010 through 2012), it is too early to determine VA's effectiveness in implementing this guidance. Further, VA is in the initial stages of developing management processes that are critical to centralizing its control over the budget. However, while the department had originally stated that the processes would be implemented by July 2008, it now indicates that implementation across the department will not be completed until at least 2011. Until VA fully institutes its oversight measures and management processes, it risks not realizing their contributions to, and impact on, improved IT oversight and accountability within the department.