Federal agencies are spending an increasing amount of their IT budgets on operations and maintenance, leaving less funding for modernization, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The report is troubling in its rundown of legacy systems still supporting government activities, including a 1970s-era computing system that coordinates U.S. nuclear forces at the Defense Department. While that revelation seems to be fueling most of the coverage and online chatter about the report, the problem runs far deeper.
Not only do many agencies run mission-critical systems on equipment from a bygone era, many of them do not even have specific plans to upgrade and modernize, GAO found.
O&M spending has been rising year by year since 2012, while spending for modernization and development has declined. From fiscal years 2010 to 2017, such spending has decreased by $7.3 billion, according to GAO.
Among the departments GAO examined:
- The Treasury Department runs its master file systems for individuals and businesses on an IBM mainframe. The systems are written in assembly language rather than a modern programming language, and Treasury has no specific plans for updating the systems.
- The Defense Department uses an IBM Series/1 computer and 8-inch floppy disks to run the Strategic Automated Command and Control System, which coordinates nuclear forces such missiles and aircraft. DoD plans to update much of the system by the end of fiscal 2017.
- The Veterans Affairs Department uses IBM mainframes and COBOL code to run its time and attendance system for employees. Its benefits delivery network, which tracks claims filed by veterans, is also written in COBOL and runs on mainframes. VA plans to replace the T&M system with a new product next year, but has no specific plan for the benefits network.
- The Justice Department’s Sentry, which provides information regarding security and custody levels and other information about the inmate population, is written in COBOL and Java. The department has a plan to update it this year.
- The Social Security Administration uses a total of 162 subsystems, some written in COBOL, to determine benefits eligibility and amounts. It has ongoing modernization efforts underway, though the complexity of the legacy software is challenging them.
