Government IT ‘Fundamentally Flawed,’ Researchers Say
The federal government spends more than $80 billion annually on information technology, while state and local governments spend an additional $100 billion. Yet only about 6% of large federal IT programs succeed, according to David Wyld, professor of management at Southeastern Louisiana University and coauthor of a new report that examines what’s wrong with government IT and how to fix it.
Throughout the report — which is based on interviews with experts within and outside the government — Wyld and coauthor Raj Sharma, CEO of Censeo Consulting Group, discuss how federal agencies purchase and manage IT, and why many programs fail. “This is not about IT procurement, but more about the way we solve big problems. Right now, the way we run IT programs is fundamentally flawed. We’ve erected enormous barriers to entry, limiting innovation and competition,” Sharma told InformationWeek Government.
The authors argue that there are five main factors to blame for what’s wrong with government IT:
•IT programs often fail when there is no agreement on what problem needs to be solved or what success looks like.
•Weak leadership and governance are to blame, especially since most senior leaders are not around long enough to see projects through from beginning to end.
•The “risk-adverse mindset” agencies have toward compliance and fear of failure can cause programs to be delayed months or even years because of many reviews and approvals.
Full article by Elena Malykhina, Information Week Government
About the Author
Roger Chu is the Marketing Coordinator at GSAmart, the leading GSA sales and marketing partner for technology companies.
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