The federal government invests more than $100 billion annually in IT, but those investments frequently fail to deliver in timely or cost-effective ways – in part because most major federal agencies are not meeting statutory IT portfolio review requirements, a federal watchdog revealed.
Chief information officers at many of the 24 major federal agencies, along with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), failed to conduct annual IT portfolio and high-risk investment reviews as required by law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its annual report identifying areas where the government can cut costs and improve efficiency.
Specifically, GAO said that OMB no longer conducts required agency IT portfolio reviews, citing resource constraints, while several agencies failed to properly review troubled IT investments or document corrective actions.
GAO warned that weak oversight could contribute to waste and duplication across federal IT spending and said implementing its recommendations could reduce duplication and waste and potentially save millions.
“While GAO cannot provide a precise estimate of financial benefits, if implementing these recommendations could save agencies even 10 percent of duplicative IT investments and halt or terminate investments when appropriate, these agencies could save one hundred million dollars or more,” GAO said.
The watchdog also pointed to potential multimillion-dollar savings through improved oversight of modernization efforts at the Department of the Interior and the Small Business Administration (SBA).
At the Department of the Interior, GAO said a modernization project involving an oil and gas data system failed after costs tripled to $40 million, contributing to a $19 million productivity shortfall in 2021 alone. GAO also found that the Census Bureau and SBA relied on unreliable cost and schedule estimates for modernization projects and recommended that the agencies adopt leading practices for cost and schedule estimation.
GAO further recommended that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fully incorporate independent verification and validation into its systems engineering guidance to better manage its $1.6 billion financial system modernization effort. The Department of Health and Human Services, GAO said, should identify and reduce duplicative public health IT systems used during pandemic response efforts.
Outside of saving on IT spending, GAO’s report identified other areas where the federal government could improve cybersecurity, software licensing, and the Pentagon’s use of technology.
GAO noted that no single federal agency is leading efforts to protect U.S. cryptography from quantum computing threats, while ransomware assistance to state and local governments remains fragmented.
While the watchdog has recommended the Office of the National Cyber Director lead the development of a national quantum cybersecurity strategy – urging DHS and the Justice Department to improve ransomware support – GAO said its recommendation has gone unaddressed.
The watchdog also pointed to software licensing as an area for improvement. Five of seven agencies reviewed by GAO said vendors required repurchasing licenses for cloud use or imposed additional fees, which drive up cloud computing costs. GAO recommended that agencies update guidance to identify and mitigate those licensing practices.
At the Defense Department, GAO said the Pentagon is advancing high-tech weapons programs without fully validating key capabilities or adopting modern engineering tools.
The annual report said the Space Development Agency is moving ahead with space-based laser communications before proving the technology in each phase, while most hypersonic weapons efforts have not implemented digital engineering tools such as digital twins. GAO suggested better coordination on modular systems, phased technology demonstrations, and broader evaluation of digital engineering for hypersonic weapons.