The Government Accountability Office has called on agencies to address legacy information technology systems that need to be modernized or replaced.Approximately 5,233 of 7,000 government IT investments are spent on operations and maintenance activities while development and modernization efforts saw a $7.3 billion decline through fiscal years 2010 to 2017, GAO said in a report published Wednesday.
The agency added many IT O&M investments that agency chief information officers identified as moderate to high risk were not reviewed by agencies as required.
The report also called on the Office of Management and Budget to finish its draft guidance that will require agencies to identify and prioritize legacy IT systems that need to be replaced or modernized.
GAO further listed legacy systems that agencies claim to be 30 years or older, such as the Defense Department‘s 53-year-old Strategic Automated Command and Control System that runs on a 1970s IBM Series/1 Computer and uses 8-inch floppy disks.
GAO assessed 26 agencies’ IT O&M spending for fiscal years 2010 through 2017, oversight of at-risk legacy investments, the age and obsolescence of federal IT systems as well as OMB data.
