Treasury fails to apply best IT management practices
Without proper earned value management policies, the department “may not be able to manage its programs effectively,” GAO reports.
The Treasury Department has not fully implemented best practices for tracking and managing information technology investments, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Monday.
Comment on this article in The Forum.Treasury has not applied earned value management, an approach that, if done correctly, produces early warning signs of problems that can lead to project delays and cost increases, GAO found. Treasury's fiscal 2008 IT budget is about $3 billion, making it crucial for the department to keep track of progress and spending on IT projects.
"The department and its bureaus are not fully implementing key EVM practices to manage their critical system investments," the report stated. "Specifically, the six programs at Treasury that we reviewed were not consistently implementing practices needed for establishing a comprehensive EVM system, ensuring that data from the system are reliable, and using the data to help manage the program."
Of the seven key components that GAO lists as part of an effective EVM policy, Treasury's policy only fully addresses three: establishing clear criteria for the programs that will use EVM; requiring programs to conduct detailed reviews of expected costs, schedules and deliverables; and defining when programs can revise cost and schedule projections.
Treasury only partially addresses three others: requiring programs to comply with national standards, requiring programs to use a standard structure for defining work products so managers can track costs, and requiring routine checks to ensure that major acquisitions comply with agency policy and standards.
Treasury does not address the remaining requirement to enforce EVM training for program managers and acquisition personnel.
"For example, when executing work plans and recording actual costs . . . four of six investments we reviewed did not incorporate government costs with contractor costs," the GAO noted. "In addition, five out of six did not adequately analyze performance data and record the variances from the baseline. Unless the department consistently implements fundamental EVM practices, it may not be able to manage its programs effectively."
GAO recommended that Treasury develop a policy that is fully consistent with the best practices and ensure effective implementation of earned value principles. Treasury generally agreed with GAO's findings and will issue a revised version of its policy by October 2008.