(Washington, D.C.) – The nation’s premier watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), today raised questions for members of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management to ask at tomorrow’s hearing on the President’s plan to eliminate wasteful spending in information technology (IT).  Last June, Peter Orszag, then-director of the Office of Management and Budget, made three recommendations to “advance IT reform.”  He proposed streamlining IT projects, reviewing the highest risk IT projects, and improving IT procurement and management practices.

“Ever since the Grace Commission found in 1984 that the average age of a government computer was 6.7 years, compared to three years in the private sector and that the government was running dozens of incompatible accounting and financial systems, CAGW has been urging officials in Washington, D.C. to improve the procurement and deployment of IT systems,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “Despite dozens of initiatives to improve the government’s purchases and deployments of computer systems, many problems remain.  The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) February 2011 ‘High Risk List’ cited ongoing weaknesses in IT management and procurement at several departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense.  Yet, the government has moved to adopt a ‘cloud-first’ approach to IT, which raises questions about leaping forward when past structural problems are unresolved.” 

CAGW has asked subcommittee members to pose the following questions, among others, to the panelists, which include Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and GAO Director of Information Technology Management Issues David Powner: 

How has the government improved upon prior efforts to streamline information technology projects?  Which federal agencies’ IT programs are at the highest risk and which have employed best practices in IT procurement and management?  What concerns do you have about moving agencies to the cloud “first” when there are ongoing questions regarding past IT projects?  The Justice Department has claimed that Google Apps for Government does not have Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification despite the company’s insistence that it is so certified; can you tell taxpayers how many companies claim their products are certified under FISMA when they have not received such a designation?  Will you be investigating whether any contracts were awarded based on any claims by Google or any other company that a product is FISMA-certified when it is not?    

“The government spends tens of billions of dollars every year on IT.  Taxpayers deserve to know that when government agencies are adopting new technologies such as the cloud, the procurement process is fair and unbiased, the best technology is being procured at the least possible cost, and the vendor is both accountable and trustworthy,” concluded Schatz.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.