Agencies given mixed grades on technology management
Eight years after the Clinger-Cohen Act established guidelines for federal technology investment and management, agencies still do not fully meet its requirements, officials told lawmakers Wednesday.
Specifically, agencies must improve in measuring performance, overseeing technology investments and implementing cybersecurity.
The hearing, called by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, was scheduled to review compliance with the Clinger-Cohen Act, the nearly $58 billion proposed fiscal 2005 technology budget and other technology issues.
"Few agencies monitor performance for their IT goals," said David Powner, director of information technology for the General Accounting Office, which recently published a report (GAO-04-394G) on federal technology planning, measurement and investment. "In the investment management area, the agencies largely had IT investment management boards, but no agency had the practices associated with the oversight of IT fully in place," Powner said.
Clay Johnson, deputy director of management for the Office of Management and Budget, said only 62 percent of federal technology efforts have adequate cybersecurity protections, noting that the level of security varies from agency to agency. "There is a wide disparity in security here," he said. "Some of those agencies at 30 percent have no excuse. They need to get caught up."
The GAO report stated that agencies gave a variety of reasons for not having complied with all of the procedures, including vacancies in chief information officer slots and simple oversights that are being corrected.
Karen Evans, OMB's administrator for e-government and information technology, said for 1,200 IT projects in the budget, 621, or $22 billion worth, are currently on a watch list. If weaknesses in these programs are not adequately addressed, OMB could cut funding, though it has not yet done so.
"We're trying to put more rigor, more emphasis, more checks and balances on these processes," Johnson said.
Subcommittee Chairman Adam Putnam, R-Fla., urged OMB to get tough on failing programs. "Agencies don't even know what equipment they have," he said. "If y'all were as tough on agencies as you are on members of Congress, we'd save a lot of money."
The panel also stated, however, that agencies have made significant progress in technology investment and management, especially in setting strategic plans and goals and establishing IT investment management boards. "Our report clearly showed mixed results," Powner said.
"We are not perfect; we continue to improve each year," Johnson said. "Great progress has been made in every area."
Evans pointed to the Agriculture Department's success in saving $162 million in the fiscal 2005 budget by consolidating its technology portfolio. "We are reaffirming the [Bush administration's] commitment to results-oriented management by reducing duplication in IT spending while providing the opportunity to share in common solutions for agency IT needs," she said.
Putnam questioned whether the federal government's use of technology approaches the level of sophistication found in the private sector.
"There are places in the federal government where we are using very sophisticated technology," Johnson said, pointing to the Social Security Administration, Office of Federal Student Aid and Defense Department as examples. "The federal government is in the process of becoming results-oriented."