Federal Agencies Are Making Progress in Implementing GAO Recommendations

Due to longstanding issues, the federal government's management of IT acquisitions and operations has been on our High Risk List since 2015.

For FY 2024, 26 agencies plan to spend approximately $95 billion on IT—$74 billion to operate and maintain existing systems, and $21 billion to pay for new development and modernization projects.

As of October 2023, agencies have implemented 88% of our nearly 400 prior recommendations to improve IT management and reduce duplicative efforts. Implementing the rest could save the government millions of dollars.

Why GAO Did This Study

The Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 included a provision for GAO to assess the number of IT procurement, development, and modernization programs, offices, and entities in the federal government, including USDS and 18F. The provision also called for GAO to assess the extent to which those entities duplicate work. GAO is to report on its work every 2 years.

The specific objectives for this review were to (1) describe the procurement, development, and modernization investments identified on the IT Dashboard; (2) describe the implementation status of prior relevant GAO recommendations on IT duplication and management roles and responsibilities; and (3) describe the implementation status of prior GAO recommendations on USDS and 18F coordination on IT guidance to avoid duplication.

To address the objectives, GAO analyzed investment data reported by all 26 agencies on the IT Dashboard, determined the implementation status of 392 GAO recommendations on duplicative IT and IT roles and responsibilities, and identified the actions OMB and GSA took to implement GAO recommendations made to the USDS and 18F programs.

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Information Technology: Federal Agencies Are Making Progress in Implementing GAO Recommendations | U.S. GAO