April
6, 2000
William
S. Cohen
Secretary of Defense
Department of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Dear
Secretary Cohen:
As
you know, Congress is focused on ensuring that the government
effectively and efficiently manages its information technology
(IT) resources. The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 was enacted, in
part, in response to concerns about how the federal government
was acquiring IT. The Act mandates that, among other things,
executive agencies design and implement processes for IT capital
planning and investment control, implement specified IT-related
actions to enhance performance and results-based management, and
establish Chief Information Officers with certain defined duties
and responsibilities. In addition, the Act requires the agencies
to identify IT acquisition programs that have significantly
deviated from their cost, performance, or schedule goals. The
Act also requires the agencies to use, to the maximum extent
practicable, modular contracting for major IT system
acquisitions.
The
Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs played a large role in
the passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act, and we maintain a high
level of interest in compliance with its provisions. As part of
our oversight agenda, we have developed a series of questions to
ascertain the status of Clinger-Cohen Act compliance in the
agencies and departments subject to its mandates. Your response
to these questions will serve as the basis for our further
oversight on information technology management issues.
As
you prepare your responses to the following questions, we ask
that you provide sufficient documentation and examples to
support the answers you are providing to the Committee.
Effectively
Using Agency Chief Information Officers
1.
Please provide the name and official title of the individual
currently serving as Chief Information Officer (CIO). If
the individual is serving in an "acting" capacity,
please explain the steps you are taking to finalize an
appointment to this position.
(a)
Since CCA enactment in February 1996, how many individuals
have served in the CIO position for Department of Defense,
and what were the periods of their service?
(b)
Does the CIO have a direct reporting relationship to you? If
not, to whom does the CIO directly report on a day-to-day
basis?
(c)
Is the CIO a member of formal executive-level strategic
planning, budget, and program-area process re-design
committees, groups, or councils established in Department of
Defense? (1) What are the responsibilities of the CIO on
these committees and groups? (2) Has the CIO made, or played
a vital role in making, strategic business decisions for the
department/agency? Please provide several noteworthy
examples.
(d)
What, if any, additional duties or responsibilities does the
official designated as Department of Defense CIO have other
than information resources management?
(e)
Do the component organizations that comprise Department of
Defense also have designated CIOs? If so, (1) how are they
selected, (2) to whom do they report, and (3) how is their
decisional authority defined by agency policy?
(f)
In accordance with CCA, has your CIO provided annual reports
to you on improvements in information resources and
technology management capabilities? If so, please provide
copies.
(g)
What percentage of Department of Defense total
information management and technology expenditures are
controlled or approved by the Department of Defense CIO?
Achieving
Benefits From Capital Planning and Investment Control Processes
2.
Has Department of Defense implemented complete and comprehensive
IT capital planning and investment management processes, as
required by CCA section 5122(a) and (b)? If not, what remains to
be done and what is the focus of current efforts?
(a)
Please provide the Committee with Department of Defense definition
for what constitutes an IT investment for purposes of this
CCA section.
(b)
Approximately how much, and what percentage, of Department
of Defense total IT budget is subject to the IT
capital planning and investment management processes
established in your department/agency (including, as
always, its major components)?
(c)
Please identify Department of Defense top ten investment
initiatives (in terms of total acquisition dollars) that
were approved by the IT capital planning and investment
approval process and are currently in development or
acquisition. Also, for each of these initiatives, please (1)
describe how Department of Defense assessed cost, risk, and
return on investment in winning approval and (2) provide a
1-page exhibit that summarizes the cost, risk, and
return-on-investment data that were used for the investment
decision. (3) How confident are you in the quality of these
data for decision-making?
(d)
If uses an executive management level IT capital planning
and investment control group (e.g., investment review board,
IT investment committee, etc.), does this group recommend or
does it make final IT funding decisions for the Department
of Defense? If the group does not make the final decisions,
who does?
(e)
What means has your agency provided, in accordance with CCA
section 5122(b)(6), for senior management personnel to
obtain timely information on the progress of information
system investments? (1) To what extent do these means
include a system of milestones for measuring progress, on an
independently verifiable basis, in terms of cost, capability
of the system to meet specified requirements, timeliness,
and quality? (2) How confident are you that the data being
used for measuring progress are accurate, reliable, and
up-to-date?
(f)
Has Department of Defense, as required by CCA section 5127,
identified in its strategic information resources management
plan any and all major IT acquisition programs--or any phase
or increment of such programs--that have significantly
deviated from the cost, performance, or schedule goals
established for the program? (1) If so, which major IT
acquisition program(s)? If not, why not? (2) Whether or not
your agency has identified such significant deviations in
its strategic IRM plans, how does your agency define, for
purposes of CCA section 5127, (i) "major IT acquisition
program" and (ii) "significant deviation"?
Managing
IT for Overall Performance and Results
3.
As you are aware, CCA requires that executive agencies measure
how well IT is being used to support their programs. For each of
the top ten investment initiatives (in terms of total
acquisition dollars) currently in either development,
acquisition, or operation in Department of Defense, please
provide specific data on realized and expected benefits to major
operational or programmatic goals outlined in your latest
Government Performance and Results Act strategic plan or annual
performance plan. Also include the same type of data for any
other investments, currently in development, acquisition, or
operation, that you consider critically important.
-
As
required by section 5123 of CCA, please provide the
Committee with a copy of your last three annual reports on
progress in achieving goals for improving the efficiency
and effectiveness of Department of Defense operations and,
as appropriate, its delivery of services through the
effective use of information technology.
Improving
Work Processes
4.
Since enactment of CCA, has Department of Defense,
in accordance with CCA section 5123, (1) analyzed its missions
and (2) based on the analysis, revised its mission-related
processes and administrative processes, as appropriate, before
making significant investments in IT to be used in support of
the performance of those missions?
Acquiring
IT Incrementally (Modular Contracting)
5.
What progress has Department of Defense made, and what
obstacles still remain, in implementing modular contracting, in
accordance with CCA section 5202?
(a)
What criteria does Department of Defense use for determining
whether a modular contracting approach is appropriate or
not?
(b)
Since CCA’s enactment, what percentage of Department of
Defense major
IT systems investments have used modular contracting? Also,
please indicate which systems and the dollar value of the
contracts.
Contracting
for IT
6.
Approximately how much did Department of Defense obligate
through contract actions for IT products or services during each
of the following fiscal years: 1997, 1998, and 1999?
-
For
each of the three fiscal years, what percentage of the
total dollars were obligated by (1) issuing orders under
existing indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ)
contracts (such as government-wide contracts (GWACs),
federal supply schedule contracts, etc.) and (2) awarding
new contracts or issuing modifications to those contracts?
Because
of upcoming oversight hearings planned by the Committee in this
area, it is critical that the Committee receive your response by
May 18, 2000. After receiving your response, our staff may want
to meet with your representatives to discuss the information
provided. If you or your staff would like to discuss this
request further, please contact Ellen B. Brown or Susan Marshall
of the majority staff at (202) 224-4751 or Debbie Lehrich of the
minority staff at (202) 224-2627.
Thank
you in advance for your attention to this issue.
Sincerely,
Fred
Thompson
Chairman |
Joseph
I. Lieberman
Ranking Minority Member |
FT/sgm |