The Defense Department has made more progress since the spring than it ever has on improving the management of its business systems.
“If you look at what they have done in the last six to eight months, they are on the right track,” said Randolph Hite, the Government Accountability Office’s director of IT architecture and system issues. “They have a foundation that heretofore they never had.”
DOD’s recent progress on its Business Systems Modernization Program is described in GAO’s review of Version 3.0 of the Business Architecture and Transition Plan.
According to the recent GAO report, DOD has met or partially met five of six congressional mandates to improve its business systems modernization efforts.
GAO last month found that Version 3.0 of DOD’s business architecture, which it sent to Congress Sept. 30, represents “important progress” but has yet to satisfy one key requirement: that the Defense Business Systems Management Committee approves all investments exceeding $1 million.
Approval for investments
Hite said that shortcoming was expected.
“There wasn’t a date by which they had to do this,” he said. “They just have to have the investments approved before the funds are obligated.”
The bigger challenge for DOD, Hite said, is whether the department can identify all projects valued at more than $1 million.
The 2005 National Defense Authorization Act requires DOD to improve the management of its business systems modernization efforts.
After spending more than $300 million on the Business Management Modernization Program, Congress wanted tighter control and more oversight of what DOD is getting for its money.
The department uses more than 4,200 business systems, and has spent about $13.3 billion in fiscal 2005 for operations, maintenance and modernization work on those applications, GAO found.
Add ‘content and scope’
GAO auditors found the department needed to add “content and scope” to its architecture and transition plan, and ensure that corporate investment management structures and processes are effectively implemented and full budgetary disclosure occurs.
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