Audit of VA's Management of Information Technology Capital Investments

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit to evaluate whether VA was managing its information technology (IT) capital investments effectively and efficiently. The audit objectives were to determine why VA was late in submitting Exhibit 300s (an agency’s funding justifications for IT capital investments) to the Office of Management and Budget for budget year 2010 and if VA had implemented the corrective actions needed to prevent delinquent Exhibit 300 submissions in the future. We concluded that OI&T did not have effective policies, procedures, and management controls in place to ensure that VA managed its IT capital investments effectively, efficiently, and in accordance with applicable criteria. OI&T failed to submit Exhibit 300s for BY 2010 to OMB by the September 8, 2008, deadline. In addition, OI&T has not successfully implemented appropriate management controls to ensure that it does not miss future Exhibit 300 submission deadlines. More importantly, OI&T’s delayed submission of VA’s Exhibit 300s signifies a much broader and more serious issue—VA’s inability to adequately manage and ensure effective oversight of its IT capital investments. For example, OI&T has not fully defined and documented new centralized management policies and procedures needed for effective IT capital investment management. OI&T has also not clearly defined the roles of IT governance boards responsible for facilitating budget oversight and management of IT capital investments or established the criteria the boards will use to select, review, and assess IT capital investments. The Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology concurred with the recommendations and provided acceptable improvement plans. We consider all review issues to be resolved and will follow up on the implementation of planned improvement actions.