Information Technology: OMB and Agencies Need to More Effectively Implement Major Initiatives to Save Billions of Dollars

Citation
Government Accountability Office, Information Technology: OMB and Agencies Need to More Effectively Implement Major Initiatives to Save Billions of Dollars (GAO-13-796T) (July 25, 2013) (full-text).

Overview
The federal government reportedly plans to spend at least $82 billion on IT in fiscal year 2014. Given the scale of such planned outlays and the criticality of many of these systems to the health, economy, and security of the nation, it is important that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and federal agencies provide appropriate oversight and adequate transparency into these programs. Nevertheless, IT projects too frequently incur cost overruns and schedule slippages, and result in duplicate systems while contributing little to mission-related outcomes. Additionally, projects sometimes fail or operate inefficiently, at the cost of billions of dollars.

The GAO was asked to testify on the results and recommendations from its selected reports that focused on key aspects of the federal government's management of IT investments..

GAO has issued numerous recommendations to OMB and agencies on key aspects of IT management, including OMB's public website, known as the IT Dashboard, which provides detailed information on federal agencies' major investments; reviews of underperforming projects, known as TechStats; and efforts to consolidate federal data centers.