Waste in Government IT Projects
August 6, 2008 by Raj Sheelvant
The Government agencies in the US are spending billions of dollars on IT investments that are redundant, lack clear goals and are managed by unqualified individuals. Some of the projects have been delayed for more than a decade and are costing billions more than originally budgeted. This is according to the GAO’s (Government Accountability Office) testimony before Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management in the US Senate. Read about the GAO’s findings here. Also read eWeek article titled ‘GAO: Billions Wasted on Federal IT Projects‘. The GAO has found that 413 IT projects—totaling at least $25.2 billion in expenditures for fiscal year 2008—as being poorly planned, poorly performing, or both.
I don’t think this is a problem with just the US Government’s IT projects. I believe similar waste exists with IT projects that are being implemented by the government organizations in other countries. I also think that the quasi-government organizations (ex: Freddie Mac, etc), International Organizations (ex: WHO, UN etc) and NGO (ex: Red Cross, etc) all have wastes in implementation and management of the IT investments.
It’s a shame that the IT projects that can streamline business processes and improve productivity within the governmental divisions are not being implemented correctly. IT investment can help make government agencies become more efficient and effective by reducing data duplication and improving automation. But, as the GAO report finds that the Project Management for these IT projects is handled by ‘unqualified individuals’. I think hiring a qualified IT Project Manager is the first step in correcting waste in IT investment. IT managers in this case needs to be an expert not only in understanding the needs of government agency but also in negotiation and influencing skills. Usually, government organizations are slow moving in decision making process and the bureaucrats are not incentivized to solve the problem fast. IT Project Manager needs to be savvy to move through the bureaucratic maze and identify the ‘champions’ within the government agency. Getting the backing of the right person or sub division within that government agency will enable the IT PM to escalate the issues to the right channel when hampered with quagmire and status quo. I know this is not easy and the IT PM may not succeed every time. But, trying to implement a project without the support of the customer itself, the IT PM is already on the path to failed implementation of that IT project.
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