The Department of Defense did not report required performance measures on IT business programs assessed in a new Government Accountability Office report.
The report, published Thursday, recommends that the Pentagon identify and report the minimum number of performance metrics on IT business programs as part of its submission to the Federal IT Dashboard, which tracks IT investments across the government.
GAO Reviews DOD’s Tech Programs
According to the Federal IT Dashboard, DOD has spent or plans to spend $10.9 billion on 24 major IT business programs from fiscal 2023 through 2025. About 43 percent of the budget is allocated to four programs: DOD Healthcare Management System Modernization, Enterprise Resource Planning, Enterprise Business System and Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems.
GAO noted that not all programs reported performance in the required categories. IT programs with operational investments specifically have to keep track of a minimum of five performance metrics in the categories of customer satisfaction, strategic and business results, financial, and innovation. Of the 19 IT programs with operational investments, only 14 submitted the minimum required number of performance metrics in each category.
The congressional watchdog also found that 11 programs are using Agile and iterative software development approaches and services. Of the 11 programs, three did not use metrics and management tools required by DOD and recommended under GAO’s Agile Assessment Guide.
Moreover, two programs do not have approved cybersecurity strategy and four have yet to develop plans to implement zero trust architecture by 2027.
DOD has concurred with the results of GAO’s review and provided steps it is taking to address the aforementioned issues.
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