Author: U S Government Accountability Office (G

Publisher: BiblioGov

Published: 2013-07

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781289224851

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed the status of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) plan for reorganizing its Office of Information Resources Management (IRM); (2) determined the effects of the reorganization on automatic data processing (ADP) acquisition skills; (3) evaluated whether the reorganization was consistent with legal guidelines; and (4) evaluated the involvement of the chief information resources officer (CIRO) in IRM planning, budgeting, and ADP acquisition activities. GAO found that: (1) the reorganization has left VA with a fragmented IRM planning and budgeting process which does not give CIRO the authority to manage the development of VA-wide information technology and relies on each component to formulate its own IRM plans and budgets; (2) CIRO lacked adequate internal controls over the VA acquisition approval process for information resources, resulting in IRM acquisitions over $50,000 not being submitted for approval and the acquisition of duplicate ADP systems; (3) the reorganization did not provide a solid foundation for IRM, resulting in less responsibilities for the IRM office and a weakened CIRO; (4) since major VA components continue to operate autonomously, its information exchange and system integration deficiencies between the components remained largely unresolved; and (5) since VA reorganization efforts failed to unify IRM, VA actions may not meet the legal guidelines which provide for CIRO management of information resources.