Reining in runaway IT projects is key to controlling costs, forum participants say

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra tells conference that government needs to "make strategic investments that produce dividends." James Kegley

The government's top tech budget official on Tuesday said information technology spending is expected to rise above the current $80 billion level as agencies turn to IT to cut costs elsewhere.

"Over time that number is going to grow ... because we're going to make strategic investments that produce dividends," federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra told a group of thought leaders from industry, academia and government who had gathered in Washington to propose ways the government can turn around troubled IT projects.

All were taking part in a daylong forum sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a Washington research institute. The event brought together officials known for effecting dramatic change at all levels of government, such as District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, to tackle citizens' decreasing confidence in Washington.

One of the issues contributing to this distrust, according to government officials, is mismanaged IT projects that waste billions of taxpayer dollars annually. The Office of Management and Budget last month froze 30 financial systems to stem the problem until each program is replanned or cut. Simultaneously, OMB is developing recommendations, due this fall, for reforming the IT acquisition process to address the causes of project failures. The feedback collected from Tuesday's session is expected to inform the recommendations.

To organize their thoughts, participants in Tuesday's workshop were asked to write a hypothetical Government Executive article titled "The Federal IT Turnaround." The assignment directed them to chronicle the steps the White House should take to permanently reform IT project management. "Read how they succeeded by integrating changes in organization, process and systems, incentives and human resources," their worksheet stated.

"Where I need your help is long term," Kundra said. President Obama has requested a freeze on nonsecurity discretionary spending across government. In June, OMB directed agencies to excise 5 percent of their fiscal 2012 budgets. Agencies will need IT to boost productivity and continue delivering services to citizens with less money, he said.

At the same time, IT projects are suffering from a decades-old problem of slipping behind schedule and running over budget.

During the past 18 months, OMB has tried numerous approaches to change the way government operates large IT projects. Kundra launched the online score card IT Dashboard to track major investments. "But shining light wasn't sufficient because these projects require an approach that is hand-to-hand combat rather than flying over and watching and hoping that they'll fix themselves," he said.

Directing agency heads to tighten IT project management also proved fruitless, according to Kundra. The joke is "OMB keeps throwing out guidance and they keep wiping them off their windshields," he said. "The challenge is not that they have a lack of ideas but it's how do we execute them."

Now OMB officials are holding in-person meetings with federal IT managers, dubbed TechStat sessions, to alter project plans by assessing cost and schedule data. The 30-some financial systems will remain on hold until administration and agency officials convene individually to overhaul each project's timeline.

"What we've recognized is that some of these projects are scoped in a way that we know they will not succeed," Kundra said. "We have systems where we have deliverable timelines that are five to seven to 10 years out. That's unacceptable." Going forward, projects will have to hit milestones within 120 days.