United States General Accounting Office

GAO Accounting and Information

Management Division

March 1995 Information Resources

Management-National

Security and

International Affairs

Issue Area Plan

Fiscal Years 1995-97

GAO/IAP-95-4

Foreword

The Information Resources Management-National Security and

International Affairs (IRM-NSIA) issue area is one of 35 issue areas for which

GAO periodically develops multi year strategic plans. Relying heavily on

input from congressional committees, as well as industry, academia, and

agency officials and other experts, GAO develops strategic plans to ensure

that our resources are focused on the most important concerns of the

Congress.

For each issue area, GAO’s strategic plan describes the significance of the

issues, our objectives, and the focus of our work. GAO’s goal is to serve as a

source of timely, accurate information and unbiased analysis for

decisionmakers in the Congress and executive agencies. Our work results

in products such as reports, briefings, and testimonies.

The IRM-NSIA issue area covers information management and technology

issues within the Department of Defense (DOD), National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA), the State Department, and the Agency for

International Development (AID). These agencies spend about $40 billion

annually—75 percent of the federal government’s expenditure for

computers and software—for everything from automated business and

financial systems to computer systems embedded in space and weapons

materials.

Our work covers a broad spectrum. For example, we focus on (1) business

and financial systems, such as those used to manage DOD’s nearly $100

billion inventory, maintain its weapons systems, or pay its 6 million

military, civilian, and retired personnel; (2) the operation of the $77 billion

Defense Business Operations Fund (DBOF), a key initiative to identify and

reduce infrastructure costs; and (3) highly sophisticated computer

systems, such as those used for the Air Force’s F-22 fighter aircraft or

NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. We also

examine how the State Department manages its financial and information

management resources.

GAO’s goals in the IRM-NSIA issue area are to help these agencies

(1) maximize their investment in technology by effectively implementing

systems that will support and streamline operations and provide a high

rate of return to the taxpayer and (2) strengthen their financial

management practices. The principal issues in the IRM-NSIA issue area are

Page 1 GAO/IAP-95-4
Foreword

• development of DOD’s information infrastructure;

• management, development, and operation of DOD’s automated business

systems;

• improvement of DOD’s financial management;

• design, development, operation, and support of computers and software

embedded in weapons and command/control systems; and

• strategic information management planning and selected automation

projects at NASA, State, and AID.

In the pages that follow, we describe our key planned work on these

issues.

Because events may significantly affect even the best of plans, our

planning process allows for updating the plan and responding quickly to

emerging issues. If you have any questions or suggestions about this plan,

please call me at (202) 512-6240.

Jack L. Brock, Jr.

Director

Information Resources Management -

 National Security and International Affairs

Page 2 GAO/IAP-95-4
Contents

Foreword 1

Table I: Key Issues 4

Table II: Planned

Major Work

6

Table III: GAO

Contacts

7

Page 3 GAO/IAP-95-4
Table I: Key Issues

Issue Significance

Defense information infrastructure:

How can DOD develop an information infrastructure that

adequately supports its operations and effectively uses its

resources and technology?

DOD spends over $10 billion annually for computer and communication

infrastructure needed to support and better integrate the Department’s

thousands of information systems. A sound information infrastructure is

essential if DOD is to effectively use technology to improve operations.

However, its efforts to implement an information infrastructure have been

frustrated by ineffective DOD-wide strategic information management

planning and technical policy implementation.

Defense business systems: What should be done to

improve the management, development, and operation of

DOD’s business systems?

DOD spends over $9 billion annually to develop and operate thousands of

redundant, overlapping, and incompatible business systems. It needs

better business systems to provide credible information for supporting its

business functions.

Defense financial management: How can DOD’s financial

management be improved to provide the type of

information needed to effectively run the department?

Widespread financial management weaknesses have resulted in DOD

being unable to accurately account for billions of dollars. It continues to

struggle with implementing a viable financial management environment,

which is having a crippling effect on management’s ability to adequately

monitor operations.

Defense weapons systems: How can DOD more

effectively design, develop, operate, and support its

embedded computer systems?

DOD spends about $20 billion annually on computers and software to

enhance the capability of its sophisticated and complex weapons

systems. There are nearly 100 major systems under development and

many more in operation that all depend on software. However, it has had

serious problems developing, acquiring, and supporting its embedded

systems. Billions of dollars in development and support costs could be

saved if the agency could improve its software engineering processes.

Other issues: How can State, AID, and NASA improve

their strategic planning and management of information

resources, technology, and financial systems?

State, AID, and NASA need to manage their operations strategically,

taking advantage of information technologies where appropriate. These

agencies should employ practices that can help improve their

performance, productivity, and quality of service.

Page 4 GAO/IAP-95-4
Table I: Key Issues

Objectives Focus of work

Improve DOD’s ability to achieve mission goals, downsize, and

reduce costs through more effective strategic information

management, planning, and implementation of management

initiatives.

Identify opportunities for savings from consolidating or eliminating

installations, activities, and systems.

• Strategic information management and corporate information

management (CIM)

• “Migration” strategy 

• The Defense Information Systems Agency’s efforts to

consolidate data processing and telecommunications

• DOD’s electronic data interchange efforts

• Budget/investment analysis

Ensure that improvement efforts for information systems are

technically sound and economically justified.

Improve management, performance, and systems support and

identify opportunities for savings for key functional areas.

• Implementation of standard systems for logistics and

transportation

• Selected systems modernization 

• Budget investment/analysis

Enhance DOD’s efforts to develop integrated budget and

accounting systems as well as improved cost accounting systems.

Identify actions DOD should take to improve existing systems’

accuracy and reliability and identify opportunities for savings

through management improvements.

• DBOF operations

• Unmatched disbursements

• Implementation of standard financial systems

• Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Build GAO’s capacity and technical capability to evaluate

embedded computer systems.

Identify and assess recurring or systemic embedded computer

system development, acquisition, and support problems and

opportunities for savings.

Examine how DOD can improve its software engineering processes

to reduce costs and improve quality.

• Embedded systems methodology 

• Joint AIMD-NSIAD reviews of computer- and software-intensive

weapon systems

• Software engineering processes

• Cross-cutting technical issues

• Budget/investment analysis

Recommend ways for State, AID, and NASA to improve their

strategic planning and management of information resources,

technology, and financial systems.

Encourage State, AID, and NASA to implement IRM “best” practices.

• NASA strategic information management

• Selected NASA systems and technology

• State and AID strategic information management

Page 5 GAO/IAP-95-4
Table II: Planned Major Work

Issue Planned Major Job Starts

Defense information infrastructure •CIM implementation issues

•Viability of DOD’s migratory systems strategy

•Electronic commerce/electronic data interchange implementation

•DOD’s information technology investment strategy

•DOD telecommunications/global command and control issues

Defense business systems •DOD’s maintenance systems modernization

•DOD’s materiel management systems modernization

•DOD’s transportation systems modernization

•Information technology budget analyses

Defense financial management •Pricing of DBOF services

•DOD’s efforts to identify and reduce cost of DBOF operations

•Reengineering the defense disbursement process

•Defense Finance & Accounting Service consolidation

•Adequacy of DFAS debt management system

Defense weapons systems •Methodology for assessing embedded systems

•Assessment of selected Air Force systems/issues

•Evaluation of software development activities and processes

•Assessment of selected Navy systems/issues

•Assessment of selected Army systems/issues

Other issue area work •NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System

•NASA information resource management

•State Department and AID IRM issues

•Post FTS 2000 Issues

Page 6 GAO/IAP-95-4
Table III: GAO Contacts

Director Jack Brock (202) 512-6240

Assistant Directors Patricia Daly

John DeFerrari

Franklin Deffer

Larry Logsdon

Joseph McDermott

Gregory Pugnetti

John Reifsnyder

Darby Smith

John Stephenson

Ernst Stockel

Carl Urie

Page 7 GAO/IAP-95-4
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