DOD Business Systems Modernization: Planned Investment in Navy Program to Create Cashless Shipboard Environment Needs to Be Justified and Better Managed

摘要

GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) multi-billion dollar business systems modernization efforts as high risk, in part because key information technology (IT) management controls have not been implemented on key investments, such as the Navy Cash program. Initiated in 2001, Navy Cash is a joint Department of the Navy (DON) and Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service (FMS) program to create a cashless environment on ships using smart card technology, and is estimated to cost about $320 million to fully deploy. As requested, GAO analyzed whether DON is effectively implementing IT management controls on the program, including architectural alignment, economic justification, requirements development and management, risk management, security management, and system quality measurement against relevant guidance. Key IT management controls have not been effectively implemented on Navy Cash, to the point that further investment in this program, as it is currently defined, has not been shown to be a prudent and judicious use of scarce modernization resources. In particular, Navy Cash has not been (1) assessed and defined in a way to ensure that it is not duplicative of programs in the Air Force and the Army that use smart card technology for electronic retail transactions and (2) economically justified on the basis of reliable analyses of estimated costs and expected benefits over the program's life.