IT maintenance saps SSA budget

The Social Security Administration spent more than 70 percent of its fiscal 2008 information technology budget -- $482 million -- just to keep current computer systems operating. That's too much, concludes a new report by the Social Security Advisory Board. Sinking nearly three-fourths of the IT budget into patching together old systems prohibits SSA from spending adequately on research and development of modern systems. In 2008, SSA spent about $180 million on new investments.

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