Report: FBI still lacks IT strategy
The FBI still lacks a comprehensive blueprint for modernizing its information technology systems, because the agency has not made crafting such a strategy a priority, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office.
Despite nearly three years of effort to develop a plan to upgrade its antiquated systems, and hundreds of millions of dollars already invested in two new systems, the FBI is still in only the initial stages of creating an overall strategy for IT modernization, GAO found.
"GAO's research has shown that attempting to modernize an IT environment without a well-defined and enforceable enterprise architecture risks, among other things, building systems that do not effectively and efficiently support mission operations and performance," the report (GAO-03-959) concluded.
Though the FBI has pledged to develop a strategy for IT modernization by this fall and has already designated a chief architect for the initiative, the agency needs to treat such long-range planning as an "institutional management priority," which it "has yet to do," the report said.
The FBI is trying to replace most of its 1980s-based technology and integrate its computer systems to help it perform its critical missions, including criminal investigations and preventing terrorism. The agency, which manages hundreds of computer systems at a cost of $800 million a year, relies on information technology to support forensic examinations, collect data on known and suspected terrorists and criminals, and help state and local law enforcement agencies identify criminals.
According to GAO, part of the problem is that the agency has not allocated enough resources to develop a long-term IT strategy. The FBI has assigned four employees and allotted about $1 million annually over the last two and one-half years to the project, GAO found. "In contrast, our research of successful architecture efforts in other federal agencies shows that their resource needs are considerably greater than those that the FBI has committed," the report said.
GAO recommended that the FBI director make the development of an overall IT business strategy a management priority by adopting a methodology, establishing an enterprise architecture program office and developing performance measures for such plans.
The FBI did not respond to GAO's findings in time for its response to be included in the report.