Recognizing IPTs’ potential to improve the federal government’s  approach to managing IT investments, OMB has called for the  development and use of IPTs for federal IT acquisitions. Three Characteristics Are Key to a Comprehensive Integrated Program Team; Shortfalls Have Contributed to Previous Acquisition Problems

Three key characteristics contribute to the creation and operation of  comprehensive IT acquisition IPTs: (1) effective executive leadership  through team support, empowerment, and oversight; (2) effective team  composition; and (3) effective processes for team operations. Empower Team to Act

The people assigned to an IPT should have the appropriate authority to  perform their assigned responsibilities. These three leadership stakeholders are involved in the gate review  process and provide oversight. Projects are tracked using activity  based costing. Shortfalls in team composition. Selected Departments Had Mixed Progress in Assessing Their IT Skill Gaps

One key element cuts across the characteristics and practices needed to  build a strong IPT: IT workforce planning. Ensuring program staff  have the necessary knowledge and skills is a factor commonly identified  as critical to the success of major IT investments. Selected federal departments had mixed progress in assessing their IT  skill gaps. While they have demonstrated important progress in either  partially or fully implementing key IT workforce planning activities, each of  the five departments had shortfalls. As shown in the figure, of the five departments, Defense had the most  robust implementation with all eight activities fully or partially  implemented. By not fully implementing key IT workforce planning activities, Defense  runs the risk that it cannot adequately assess and address gaps in  knowledge and skills that are critical to providing support for major  acquisitions. For example, the department has only  recently established policies to guide its workforce planning activities. While  these are positive steps, these actions are not yet rooted in an IT  workforce planning process that lays the foundation for how the  department is to analyze its IT workforce skill gaps, develop and  implement strategies to address gaps, and monitor and evaluate progress  in addressing the gaps. The right mix of expertise to recognize problems early and the requisite  authority to do something about them are contingent upon effective IT  workforce planning. Recommendations for Executive Action

To facilitate the analysis of gaps between current skills and future needs,  the development of strategies for filling the gaps, and succession  planning, we are making a total of five recommendations to the  Secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services,  Transportation, and the Treasury. Of those five  departments, four agreed with our recommendations and one, Defense,  partially agreed. However, the department did not attach a copy of the  workforce plan. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to (1) identify key characteristics of a comprehensive  integrated program team (IPT) responsible for managing a major federal  information technology (IT) acquisition, and (2) evaluate whether selected  federal agencies are adequately assessing and addressing gaps in  knowledge and skills that are critical to the success of major IT  acquisitions. To create the evaluation framework, we reviewed relevant laws and  guidance to identify steps and activities for federal agencies to conduct IT  workforce planning, including:
Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996;
E-Government Act of 2002;
Legislation commonly referred to as the Federal Information  Technology Acquisition Reform Act;
Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act of 2015;
OMB’s 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information
OMB’s Guidance for Specialized Information Technology Cadres;
OMB’s Management and Oversight of Federal Information
OMB’s Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan for the
OMB’s Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy;
OMB’s Circular A-130, Managing Information as a Strategic
The Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Workforce Planning
OPM’s workforce planning guidance on key elements and suggested
OPM’s IT Program Management Career Path Guide; and
GAO guidance on federal internal control standards as well as key  principles for effective strategic workforce planning.
Why GAO Did This Study

In fiscal year 2017, the federal government is expected to spend more than $89 billion on IT. In many instances, agencies have not consistently applied best practices that are critical to successfully acquiring IT investments, such as ensuring program staff have the necessary knowledge and skills. In an effort to aid agencies in successfully delivering projects, the Office of Management and Budget has called for the development and use of IPTs for federal IT acquisitions to ensure that projects consist of the appropriate mix of individuals. GAO was asked to review IPTs for federal IT acquisitions and the federal government's IT workforce planning.
GAO's objectives were to (1) identify key characteristics of comprehensive IPTs responsible for managing major federal IT acquisitions, and (2) evaluate whether selected federal agencies are adequately assessing and addressing gaps in knowledge and skills that are critical to the success of major IT acquisitions. To do so, GAO reviewed relevant literature; interviewed IPT experts; and evaluated IT workforce efforts at five departments: Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Treasury.

What GAO Found

Integrated program teams (IPT) are cross-functional or multidisciplinary groups of individuals that are organized and collectively responsible for delivering a product to an external or internal customer. GAO identified three characteristics that contribute to the creation and operation of a comprehensive IPT: (1) executive leadership through team support, empowerment, and oversight; (2) team composition; and (3) processes for team operations. GAO also identified 18 practices supporting these three characteristics (see figure). For example, executive leadership is effective when sufficient resources are provided and teams are empowered to act, team composition is more robust when the IPT has cross-functional and multidisciplinary skill sets, and team operations are streamlined when team guidelines are established and stakeholders are involved as active members. When implemented, these practices can increase the IPT's likelihood of success by having the right mix of expertise to recognize problems early and by having the requisite authority to do something about them.
While multiple factors contribute to a robust IPT, one aspect involves having a strong information technology (IT) workforce. To evaluate agencies' IT workforce planning efforts, GAO identified eight key workforce planning steps and activities based on relevant laws and guidance (see table).
Five federal departments had mixed progress in assessing their IT skill gaps. While all five departments had demonstrated important progress in either partially or fully implementing key IT workforce planning activities, each had shortfalls. For example, four departments had not demonstrated an established IT workforce planning process.
As shown in the figure, of the five departments, the Department of Defense had the most robust IT workforce planning process by fully or partially implementing all eight activities. However, the departments have not yet fully implemented all of the practices for various reasons. For example, policies were not comprehensive in requiring such activities or were not being applied to IT workforce planning at four departments, one department placed a greater emphasis on assessing its cybersecurity workforce, and two departments identified the need to perform more granular assessments of the workforce in order to identify skill gaps. Until the departments fully implement key workforce planning steps and activities, they risk not adequately assessing and addressing gaps in knowledge and skills that are critical to the success of major acquisitions.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that selected departments implement IT workforce planning practices to facilitate more rigorous analyses of gaps between current skills and future needs, and the development of strategies for filling the gaps. Four departments agreed and one, Defense, partially agreed with our recommendations.