With the start of the new Congress, GAO today released their 2015 High Risk List calling attention to agencies and programs that they deem are high risks because of their exposure to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or which are in need of transformation. Not surprisingly, the Office added “Improving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations” to their list this year.
The federal information technology (IT) community should embrace this news. First, it amplifies and reinforces the drumbeat message thought leaders, like the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), and industry have been delivering to Congress and the Obama administration regarding the need for acquisition reform, with a particular emphasis on IT acquisition reform. Second, it reaffirms the complaints most often heard about IT investments and management, noting programs are over budget, have schedule delays, and don’t deliver the capabilities originally sought for the mission. Third, it identifies the same characteristics that industry and other stakeholders have noted should be the hallmarks of successful IT investment and management.
Here is their list of nine critical factors:
- Program officials actively engaging with stakeholders.
- Program staff having the necessary knowledge and skills.
- Senior department and agency executives supporting the programs.
- End users and stakeholders involved in the development of requirements.
- End users participating in testing of system functionality prior to end user acceptance.
- Government and contractor staff being stable and consistent.
- Program staff prioritizing requirements.
- Program officials maintaining regular communications with the prime contractor.
- Programs receiving sufficient funding.
The good news in this report is that the independent GAO has added their voice to the call for reform, emphasizing the same or very similar challenges in the current process. They’ve also drawn a picture of what success looks like and remarkably GAO’s recipe for success looks a lot like what ITAPS has advocated should be the hallmarks of reform: senior agency management commitment; adequately equipped and trained acquisition workforce; stakeholder and end user engagement, particularly in requirements development; industry engagement and dialogue; and, a more flexible and effective funding process for the information age.
I also think there may be good news in the cancelled programs GAO cited as examples to support their findings that note the declining transparency on the IT dashboard for large IT investment programs. The most recent citation is 2012, so perhaps that is an indicator that programs like PortfolioStat are being successful to help right off-course investments before they cannot be saved. Hopefully, it is also a sign that agencies are beginning to move away from an approach GAO calls “big-bang,” but many of us also refer to as waterfall development, and effectively embrace smaller, incremental capability improvements using agile development methodologies.
We welcome the new voice in the chorus reinforcing the need for reform. It is also good news to see that their recommendations are aligned with those from industry and the changes legislators and policymakers are contemplating. It’s like new wind in the sails for reform of IT acquisition and management.