Information Technology: Federal Agencies Are Making Progress in Implementing GAO Recommendations
Fast Facts
Due to longstanding issues, the federal government's management of IT acquisitions and operations has been on our High Risk List since 2015.
For FY 2024, 26 agencies plan to spend approximately $95 billion on IT—$74 billion to operate and maintain existing systems, and $21 billion to pay for new development and modernization projects.
As of October 2023, agencies have implemented 88% of our nearly 400 prior recommendations to improve IT management and reduce duplicative efforts. Implementing the rest could save the government millions of dollars.
Federal IT Dashboard
Highlights
What GAO Found
For fiscal year 2024, 26 federal agencies plan to spend approximately $95 billion on about 6,700 IT investments, as reported on the IT Dashboard—a public website the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched in 2009. The $95 billion does not include about $37 billion of the Department of Defense's planned spending for unclassified national security systems, classified IT, or classified cyberspace. The IT investments on the dashboard were categorized by agencies in a variety of ways, such as by IT portfolio categories, investment types, and lifecycle costs. For example, according to agency-reported IT portfolio categories, agencies plan to spend about $45 billion on standard IT investments (i.e., defined by OMB as investments for technology goods and services common to all agencies such as IT infrastructure, security, and management), $34 billion on mission delivery, and $16 billion on mission support services. Additionally, of the approximately $95 billion reported on the dashboard, agencies plan to spend about $74 billion on operations and maintenance and $21 billion on development, modernization, and enhancement.
In its December 2021 report, GAO highlighted 16 reports that made a total of 392 recommendations to 33 agencies to address issues related to duplicative IT and IT management roles and responsibilities. As of October 2023, agencies had implemented a total of 346 (88 percent) of the recommendations. Implementing the remaining 46 recommendations would better position agencies to oversee and effectively manage their IT development and acquisition efforts, reduce the risk of wasting federal funds and other resources on duplicative IT investments, and potentially save millions of dollars.
In December 2021, GAO reported that although OMB's U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and the General Services Administration's (GSA) 18F programs had consistently coordinated on their IT projects and recruiting efforts, they had not consistently coordinated on the IT acquisition and development guidance they provided to agencies. GAO recommended that the two programs work with each other to establish and document an approach to coordinate on IT guidance provided to agencies.
OMB and GSA implemented their recommendations by documenting an approach for coordinating with each other on the IT guidance that was being developed by their USDS and 18F programs. The process included monthly collaboration meetings between OMB and GSA officials to, among other things, share information on proposed USDS and 18F guidance and identify opportunities for addressing potentially duplicative guidance or collaborating jointly on the guidance. By taking these steps, USDS and 18F have reduced the risk of overlap or duplication of efforts, and the potential for presenting conflicting information in their guidance.
Why GAO Did This Study
The Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 included a provision for GAO to assess the number of IT procurement, development, and modernization programs, offices, and entities in the federal government, including USDS and 18F. The provision also called for GAO to assess the extent to which those entities duplicate work. GAO is to report on its work every 2 years.
The specific objectives for this review were to (1) describe the procurement, development, and modernization investments identified on the IT Dashboard; (2) describe the implementation status of prior relevant GAO recommendations on IT duplication and management roles and responsibilities; and (3) describe the implementation status of prior GAO recommendations on USDS and 18F coordination on IT guidance to avoid duplication.
To address the objectives, GAO analyzed investment data reported by all 26 agencies on the IT Dashboard, determined the implementation status of 392 GAO recommendations on duplicative IT and IT roles and responsibilities, and identified the actions OMB and GSA took to implement GAO recommendations made to the USDS and 18F programs.
For more information, contact Kevin Walsh at (202) 512-6151 or walshk@gao.gov.