HHS, other agencies fail to meet IT goals

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and four other federal agencies have failed to meet incremental development requirements for their IT projects, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Federal agencies previously had to deliver IT investment capabilities every 12 months, but they now are required to do so every six months. 

The GAO tracked IT development at five federal agencies: Department of Defense; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Transportation; Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); and HHS.

All five agencies had developed policies that address incremental development, but only VA addressed the three components necessary for implementing the Office of Budget and Management's guidance on such development, according to the report. The components include: requiring delivery of functionality every six months; defining functionality; and defining a compliance enforcement process.

Nearly three-quarters of IT investments made by the five federal agencies were not on schedule to deliver functionality within six months and fewer than half of IT investments were on schedule to deliver functionality within 12 months.

VA was marked for all of the factors associated with inhibiting IT development progress except for procurement delays of development schedules and technology selection. HHS was marked on all but one of the factors associated with inhibiting IT development progress, including late funding, failure to prioritize requirements and procurement delays.

HHS was not cited for a lack of supervision or governance.

The report concluded that without "consistent use of incremental development approaches, [IT] expenditures are more likely to continue to produce disappointing results."