OMB to Overhaul High-Risk IT Projects
August 23, 2010
| 6:05 PM
As part of a cost-savings initiative, the administration will scale back $30 billion worth of high-risk IT projects.
On Monday, Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra made public a list of 26 high-priority projects that will be reviewed by the Executive Mansion in an effort to reduce their size and scope. The IT overhaul is one component of the administration's "Accountable Government Initiative" announced in July.
The goal, Kundra said during a conference call with reporters, is "to speed up and simplify execution of these programs."
The projects under scrutiny were chosen, in part, because of performance targets or mission objectives that haven't been met and lack of executive sponsorship and/or leadership, among other variables. Between Aug. 2 and Aug. 18, the Office of Management and Budget met individually with chief information officers from 27 agencies to identify the projects for review.
Phil Bond, president and CEO of TechAmerica, said that more of explanation was needed. "Our companies need more information about how and why these projects were selected," Bond said in a statement after the OMB announcement. "There certainly are concerns in many quarters about what data went into the development of this list, how that data was analyzed and how it was presented."
In recognition of the need to boost efficiency in government IT, TechAmerica recently launched a commission to improve the way federal government purchases and implements IT systems.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., Government Affairs Subcommittee Chairman and a critic of federal IT, commended the Obama administration for its efforts to make government more efficient. "Federal agencies have traditionally had a bad track record when it comes to delivering these projects on cost, on time and performing as planned," Carper said in a statement.
Carper sponsored the Information Technology Oversight and Waste Prevention Act of 2009, a bill that would add more stringent regulations to federal IT investments. The measure recently cleared the Senate and now awaits action in the House.
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