Welcome to the ‘90s, Washington
On Thursday, the federal government opens a new era in the way it acquires and uses modern computers and other information technology. This is a welcome moment because the government--the world’s largest buyer and user of computers and related equipment--has done a pretty poor job in this regard.
There are several noteworthy examples. As of March, the Internal Revenue Service’s $20-billion plan to modernize its computer systems, products of the 1960s, did not even include a clear statement of what the new system is supposed to do and how it will work. There are “very serious problems” in the project, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said at the time. Outdated computer equipment has contributed to the failure of the IRS to collect enormous sums in delinquent taxes.
The Department of Defense’s financial accounting systems have produced inaccurate and unreliable data over the years, generating billions of dollars in payments that did not match invoices. And the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control technology is so old that the FAA must scrounge for parts in junkyards and search the world over for vacuum tubes that are now hard to obtain.
For more than two years, remedying the federal government’s mismanagement of computers and other information technology has been a pet project of Sen. William Cohen (R-Maine). It was Cohen who sired the Information Technology Management Reform Act, which will effect the change that begins on Thursday. President Clinton signed it into law in February.
Among other things, the act repeals a 31-year-old law that had regulated government computer purchases; requires improvement and upfront planning by government agencies before new technologies can be bought, and encourages agencies to use commercially available technology rather than more expensive specifically designed systems. The act also establishes the new position of chief (technology) information officer for all major federal agencies.
To date, Cohen says, “agencies spend billions each year to keep old, inefficient computer systems running and continue to buy new systems that are poorly designed and, once in operation, do not meet their needs.” Now the Information Technology Management Reform Act sets the stage for government to reach the technology levels of the 1990s. Of course, change will not miraculously occur on Thursday. Close congressional oversight will be necessary.
