Information Technology: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems

Citation
Government Accountability Office, Information Technology: Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems (GAO-16-468) (May 25, 2016) (full-text).

Overview
The federal government invests more than $80 billion on IT annually, with much of this amount reportedly spent on operating and maintaining existing (legacy) IT systems. Given the magnitude of these investments, it is important that agencies effectively manage their O&M. In preparing this report, the GAO's objectives were to (1) assess federal agencies' IT O&M spending, (2) evaluate the oversight of at-risk legacy investments, and (3) assess the age and obsolescence of federal IT.

The GAO made 16 recommendations, one of which is for the OMB to develop a goal for its spending measure and finalize draft guidance to identify and prioritize legacy IT needing to be modernized or replaced. The GAO is also recommending that selected agencies address at-risk and obsolete legacy O&M investments.