GAO: Agencies Slow to Replace Outdated Tech; Calls for Congressional Action

The federal government needs to act more quickly in modernizing its information technology (IT) systems. That’s according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). 

The report is a follow up to GAO’s 2019 report which reviewed IT systems across 65 agencies and identified the ten most in need of modernization. 

GAO says since that report, just two agencies out of the ten (Department of Defense, Department of the Interior) have adequately updated their IT systems. Three agencies (Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation) had no plan at all for modernization, while the others were in various states of implementation. 

Decades Old Systems

GAO notes that legacy systems at agencies range from 23 to 59 years old and cost millions in annual operating costs. The systems in some cases use outdated programming languages, have unsupported hardware and software, and are operating with known security vulnerabilities. 

The watchdog highlighted the Department of Education’s Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL), a programming language that has few workers available with the skills to support it. The report also noted that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) system had a large number of reported security vulnerabilities. And the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was dinged for using obsolete hardware with known cybersecurity vulnerabilities. 

“Until agencies fully document modernization plans for critical legacy IT systems, their modernization initiatives will have an increased likelihood of cost overruns, schedule delays, and overall project failure,” wrote GAO in the report. “Project failure would be particularly detrimental not only because of wasted resources, but also because it would prolong the lifespan of increasingly vulnerable and obsolete systems.”

GAO made recommendations to improve modernization to the eight agencies who did fulfill modernization requirements yet. All eight agreed. 

Call for Congressional Action

In its report, GAO points out that it recommended a decade ago that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) direct agencies to identify legacy systems and other investments that need to be modernized. 

GAO writes, “Given OMB's lack of action, Congress requiring federal agencies to develop modernization plans for critical legacy systems can expedite agencies' efforts.”