Information Technology
Agriculture Needs to Strengthen Management Practices for Stabilizing and Modernizing Its Farm Program Delivery Systems
GAO-08-657, May 16, 2008
Additional Materials:
Contact:
(202) 512-6240
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has experienced significant problems with its information technology systems that support the delivery of benefits programs to farmers. In October 2006, these systems began experiencing considerable delays while attempting to process a large number of transactions, and by January 2007, the systems became inoperable for 1 month. In response to these issues, USDA developed a near-term stabilization plan and long-term plans to modernize its delivery of these programs. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which USDA's stabilization plan addresses key management issues, including consistently tracking reported problems, establishing performance metrics and goals, and defining roles and responsibilities and (2) the adequacy of USDA's assessment of existing product capabilities, as well as cost and schedule estimates for its new, long-term modernization investment. To address these objectives, GAO, among other things, compared USDA's plans with industry best practices. On March 25, 2008, GAO briefed the requesters' staff on the results of this review.
USDA's near-term plan to stabilize the agency's farm program delivery systems focused on technical issues such as expanding telecommunication capacity and acquiring a means for disaster backup and recovery; however, it did not address key managerial issues such as the department's inconsistent tracking of users' reported problems with the system. Additionally, USDA did not have system performance goals or dedicated staff to analyze and use system performance data, and the stabilization plan did not address these issues. Moreover, the plan did not clearly define the roles and responsibilities for the organizations involved in the stabilization effort in order to ensure proper accountability. While department officials indicated that they planned to address system performance management issues in a future version of the stabilization plan, they did not yet have plans to enable USDA to consistently track users' reported problems and to clarify roles and responsibilities. As a result, USDA could not be assured that its stabilization efforts would enable the department to reliably deliver farm benefit programs to its customers. Regarding USDA's proposed long-term investment known as MIDAS--Modernize and Innovate the Delivery of Agricultural Systems--officials had plans under way to obtain the necessary information for assessing the capability of products to integrate existing systems. However, business requirements were not used as a basis for the department's life-cycle cost estimate of $455 million for the modernization initiative. Instead, the estimate was based primarily on the cost estimate for another unrelated USDA IT investment. Similarly, the department had not adequately assessed its schedule estimate. According to department officials, they committed to accelerating the implementation of MIDAS from 10 years to 2 years in order to more quickly deliver a long-term solution to problems the department is experiencing with its existing program's delivery systems. However, business requirements were not considered when developing this schedule estimate. As a result, it was uncertain whether the department would be able to deliver the modernization initiative within the cost and schedule time frames it had proposed.
Status Legend:
Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
- In Process
- Open
- Closed - implemented
- Closed - not implemented
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: The Secretary of USDA should direct the department's Chief Information Officer to work with FSA's Chief Information Officer to develop specific plans for consistently tracking users' reported problems and clearly defining roles and responsibilities for Information Technology Services and the Farm Service Agency.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: The Farm Service Agency (FSA) implemented this recommendation through two actions. With respect to user problem tracking, FSA developed an incident management plan for information technology services, including farm program delivery systems, that describes the agency's approach to tracking user-reported problems. The plan, issued in September 2008, describes the people, processes,and software to track and resolve such problems. Moreover, FSA provided evidence of a web site and brochure in July and September 2009, respectively, intended to encourage and support farm program system users in reporting problems--a key aspect of consistent problem tracking. Regarding clear definition of roles and responsibilities, FSA transferred the web farm Stabilization project from the department's Information Technology Services to FSA in 2009, and documented this transfer in a transition management plan which identified roles and responsibilities for each organization. The Stabilization project was reported complete in fiscal year 2010.
Recommendation: The Secretary of USDA should direct the department's chief information officer to work with FSA's chief information officer to fully assess USDA's investment in MIDAS, including establishing effective and reliable cost estimates using industry best practices, including using key information such as business requirements to develop the estimates.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open
Comments: In a subsequent review of Farm Services Agency (FSA) modernization, completed in July 2011 (GAO-11-586), we reported that FSA planned to use GAO's Cost Estimation Guide and the program's current requirements in developing an updated cost estimate for MIDAS, but had not yet revised its 2007 estimated program cost. In light of its commitment to using the best practices incorporated into our guide, our 2011 report recommended that FSA develop timely cost estimates for MIDAS's remaining phases, its overall development and deployment, and its life cycle, to incorporate the program changes previously omitted and any others recently identified. In responding to our 2011 report, FSA stated that it would update the MIDAS cost estimate for its 2011 business case based on requirements, and could update the estimate again by the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2012 based on additional analysis and design. When available, we will review FSA's estimates to determine whether our guidance or other recognized best practices for effective and reliable cost estimation have been applied.
Recommendation: The Secretary of USDA should direct the department's chief information officer to work with FSA's chief information officer to fully assess USDA's investment in MIDAS, including establishing a realistic and reliable implementation schedule for MIDAS that is based on complete business requirements.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open
Comments: In a subsequent review of Farm Services Agency (FSA) modernization, completed in July 2011 (GAO-11-586), we reported that a key early milestone for MIDAS's system requirements review was delayed from May to December 2011. We therefore recommended that FSA develop complete and detailed schedules for the program's current and remaining phases that take into account milestone delays and the requirements baseline. In responding to our 2011 report, FSA stated that it would update the MIDAS schedule for its 2011 business case based on requirements, and could update schedule estimates by the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2012 based on analysis and design performed early in the fiscal year. When available, we will review the schedule provided by FSA to determine whether it is realistic, reliable, and based on complete business requirements.