- GAO OIG found an undocumented shift from a five-year IT modernization plan
- GAO spent $1 million in 2021 to establish the original modernization plan
- The 2026 FedCiv Summit on Oct. 29 will focus on federal agencies’ technology investments and modernization
The Government Accountability Office’s Office of Inspector General has identified weaknesses in GAO’s IT modernization oversight, citing undocumented strategic changes and incomplete cost tracking.
GAO’s audit highlights the importance of strong governance as federal agencies pursue IT modernization. The Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 FedCiv Summit on Oct. 29 will examine how agencies are managing AI, technology investments and modernization efforts. Save your seat today!
What Did the OIG Find?
According to an audit report, GAO invested $1 million in 2021 to establish a five-year IT modernization plan with a projected $29 million in initiatives, but the agency decided to transition to an ongoing modernization strategy just 18 months later. The OIG found that the decision was undocumented, leaving current officials without a record of why the agency moved away from the five-year plan.
The report said GAO incorporated most of the original plan’s initiatives into its new strategy, with 39 of the 61 initiatives completed as of May 2026.
The OIG also found that the actual cost of the IT modernization initiatives was difficult to determine because GAO’s cost-tracking system aggregated some smaller initiatives into larger projects rather than logging them separately. The finding comes after a recent Department of Veterans Affairs OIG audit identified similar gaps in cost and schedule tracking for the department’s Benefits Enterprise Platform modernization due to oversight and program management issues within the Office of Information and Technology.
What Did the OIG Recommend?
The OIG recommended that GAO strengthen controls to ensure major decisions are properly documented and design controls so that costs for future major projects can be fully tracked and reported to stakeholders. GAO agreed with both recommendations, according to the report.
