Summary

GAO reviewed automatic data processing (ADP) equipment acquisition policies at the Department of Energy (DOE) to address management's control over procurement of new ADP equipment.

GAO found that, while DOE encourages installations to evaluate the performance of their equipment, insufficient procurement documentation often prevents adequate review of the acquisition process used by DOE management. To keep the high costs of investment in ADP equipment to a minimum, DOE procurements must be limited to those necessary for an efficiently managed computing environment. To create such an environment, it is necessary to identify current data processing requirements, resource demands, likely future changes, and the performance of computing equipment available.