Establishing. These comments are discussed in the “Agency Comments and Our Evaluation” section and are reprinted in appendix I.

	SSA Has Initiated Actions to Improve Its Software Development Capability

Recognizing the need to improve its software development capability, SSA has launched a formal software process improvement program and initiated pilot projects to test improved software development processes. SSA acquired the assistance of SEI to help formulate and implement the improvement program. It has put in place the initial management infrastructure to support and facilitate its software process improvement initiatives by establishing a management steering committee to raise organizational awareness of the improvement program and a software engineering process group to oversee the development and implementation of the software process activities. With SEI’s assistance, SSA conducted a self-assessment to determine the strengths and weaknesses of its current processes for developing and maintaining software, which are primarily mainframe-oriented. Software Process Improvement Program Lacks Measurable Goals

Although SSA has made important progress in its efforts to improve its software development processes, its improvement program does not yet include specific, measurable goals and baseline data that are essential to helping it achieve a repeatable (level 2) software development capability. Without measurable goals and baseline data, SSA does not yet have critical information needed to guide its improvement efforts and to provide evidence that the efforts are resulting in more consistent, cost-effective, and timely production of higher quality products. At that time, we will send copies to the Commissioner of Social Security; the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; appropriate congressional committees; and other interested parties.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Social Security Administration's (SSA) software development process improvement efforts.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) SSA has initiated a number of actions to improve its software development capability; (2) among other things, it has: (a) launched a formal software process improvement program and initiated pilot projects to test improved software development processes; (b) acquired the assistance of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to help it assess the strengths and weaknesses in its current software development processes and to assist in implementing the improvement program; and (c) established a management steering committee and a software engineering process group within the Office of Systems to oversee software process improvement activities; (3) these are positive steps that should help position SSA to improve its software development capability; (4) although these initiatives are under way, SSA has not yet established key elements of its software process improvement program that are needed to measure the progress and success of its improvement efforts; (5) in particular, SSA has not yet defined specific, measurable goals for its software process improvement program or established the baseline data that it will use to assess its progress in achieving these goals; and (6) without this essential information, SSA cannot be assured of the extent to which its improvement efforts will result in the consistent and cost-effective production of high-quality products.