Our objectives were to determine whether USDA is (1) managing existing telecommunications resources cost-effectively and consolidating services to maximize savings and (2) effectively planning future communications networks to meet the Department’s information sharing needs. As a result, these agencies waste millions of dollars each year paying for (1) unnecessary telecommunications services and equipment, (2) leased equipment that is not used and services billed for but never provided, and (3) commercial carrier services that are more expensive than those provided under the FTS 2000 contract. However, OIRM has not required USDA’s component agencies to maintain inventories of telecommunications resources and has not provided guidance to the agencies for establishing effective telecommunications management controls. Nevertheless, USDA’s failure to cost-effectively manage its annual $100 million telecommunications investment constitutes a material internal control weakness under the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 1982 (31 U.S.C. This is allowed to occur because OIRM continues to approve agencies’ plans for new network systems without (1) determining what information sharing needs USDA agencies have and what opportunities exist to share other agencies’ existing or planned networks and (2) ensuring that the planned networks adequately address the need to share information and resources. Consequently, USDA spends millions of dollars developing networks that do not make efficient use of the Department’s telecommunications resources and cannot support information sharing without costly modifications.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) management and planning of its telecommunications resources, focusing on whether USDA is: (1) managing its telecommunications resources cost-effectively; and (2) planning telecommunications networks to support its information sharing needs.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) USDA is not cost-effectively managing its annual $100 million telecommunications investment; (2) USDA agencies waste millions of dollars each year paying for unnecessary telecommunications services and equipment, because the Office of Information Resources Management (OIRM) has not fulfilled its responsibility to manage and oversee USDA telecommunications resources; (3) USDA is not effectively planning its telecommunications networks and ensuring that they can support its information sharing needs for the future; and (4) OIRM continues to approve the acquisition and development of costly new agency networks that overlap and do not support interagency information sharing.