aimd-99-135 land management systems: major software

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Report to the Secretary of the Interior

April 1999 LAND MANAGEMENTSYSTEMS

Major SoftwareDevelopment Does NotMeet BLM’s BusinessNeeds

GAO/AIMD-99-135

GAO United States

General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

Accounting and Information

Management Division

B-282446

April 30, 1999

The Honorable Bruce BabbittThe Secretary of the Interior

Dear Mr. Secretary:

On March 4, 1999, we testified before the Subcommittee on Interior andRelated Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations, on the Bureau ofLand Management’s (BLM) efforts to develop and deploy the AutomatedLand and Mineral Record System (ALMRS).1 In our testimony, we(1) reported that BLM spent over 15 years and invested about $411 millionin planning and developing the ALMRS/Modernization, only to have themajor software component—known as the ALMRS Initial OperatingCapability (ALMRS IOC)—not meet its business needs and (2) recommendedactions that we believe BLM should take to deal with the issues it nowfaces.

This report transmits our recommendations to assist BLM in strengtheningits information technology management practices and reducing the risksthat future information technology efforts will result in a similar outcome.We are sending this report to you because of the significant investmentBLM has made in the ALMRS/Modernization and the department’s statedintent to use ALMRS as its land management system. Our testimony isreprinted in appendix I, and our objectives, scope, and methodology arepresented in appendix II. As you know, we incorporated BLM’s commentsinto our testimony before finalizing it. We performed our work from July 20, 1998 to March 3, 1999, in accordance with generally acceptedgovernment auditing standards.

Recommendations We recommend that the Secretary of the Interior ensure that BLM take thefollowing specific actions, as stated in our March 4, 1999 testimony:

• Thoroughly analyze the ALMRS IOC software, reported to cost more than$67 million, to determine whether it can be cost-beneficially modified tomeet the bureau’s needs. This analysis should be part of an overall effortto identify and assess all viable alternatives, including (1) modifying ALMRS

IOC software, (2) modifying existing land and recordation systems,(3) acquiring commercial, off-the-shelf software, or (4) developing new

1Land Management Systems: Major Software Development Does Not Meet BLM’s Business Needs(GAO/T-AIMD-99-102, March 4, 1999).

GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software DevelopmentPage 1

B-282446

systems. The alternatives analysis should clearly identify the risks, costs,and benefits of each alternative, and should be performed only after BLM isassured that it has fully verified its current business requirements.

• Assess and strengthen its investment management practices to help avoidfuture problems. The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 seeks to maximize thereturn on investments in information systems by requiring agencies toinstitute sound capital investment decision-making. Under the act,agencies must design and implement a process for maximizing the valueand assessing and managing the risks of information technologyacquisitions. The act also requires agencies to (1) assess the knowledgeand skills of their executive and management staff to meet agencies’information resources management requirements, and take steps to rectifyany deficiencies and (2) develop, maintain, and facilitate theimplementation of a sound and integrated information technologyarchitecture. Effectively enforcing a sound information technologyarchitecture to guide and constrain a modernization program can precludeinconsistent systems design and development decisions, suboptimalperformance, and excessive cost.

• Obtain an independent assessment of its systems acquisition capabilities,and ensure that it uses sound systems acquisition processes.

Finally, we recommend that until such assessments are completed andcorrective actions taken, BLM should not undertake any sizable systemsacquisition or development efforts.

This report contains recommendations to you. The head of a federalagency is required by 31 U.S.C. 720 to submit a written statement onactions taken on these recommendations to the Senate Committee onGovernmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reformnot later than 60 days after the date of this report. A written statement alsomust be sent to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations withthe agency’s first request for appropriations made more than 60 days afterthe date of this report.

We are sending copies of this report to Representative Ralph Regula,Chairman, and Representative Norman Dicks, Ranking Minority Member,Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, House Committee onAppropriations; and Senator Slade Gorton, Chairman, and Senator Robert C. Byrd, Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Interior andRelated Agencies, Senate Committee on Appropriations. We are alsosending copies of this report to The Honorable Jacob Lew, Director, Office


B-282446

of Management and Budget, and Mr. Tom Fry, Acting Director, Bureau ofLand Management. Copies will also be made available to others uponrequest.

Should you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, pleasecontact me at (202) 512-6253. I can also be reached by e-mail [email protected]. Major contributors to this report are listed inappendix III.

Sincerely yours,

Joel C. WillemssenDirector, Civil Agencies Information Systems


Contents

Letter 1

Appendix I GAO’s March 4, 1999Testimony

6

Appendix II Objectives, Scope,and Methodology

18

Appendix III Major Contributors toThis Report

19

Related Products 20

Abbreviations

ALMRS Automated Land and Mineral Record SystemBLM Bureau of Land ManagementIOC initial operating capabilityIRM information resources managementOAT&E operational assessment test and evaluation


Appendix I

GAO’s March 4, 1999 Testimony


Appendix I



Appendix II

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

As requested by the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies,House Committee on Appropriations, our objectives were to discuss(1) the history of the ALMRS/Modernization project, (2) the results of ourreviews, including key reasons for problems, and (3) where we believe BLM

should go from here.

To meet our first objective, we used our prior reports to compile a historyof the ALMRS/Modernization project. We also reviewed ALMRS/Modernizationproject documents, weekly activity reports and assessments by theindependent verification and validation contractor, software problemreports, and project management schedules. We attended the Departmentof the Interior’s August 4-6, 1998, quarterly review of the developmentproject at the ALMRS/Modernization project office in Lakewood, Colorado,and observed the independent operational assessment test and evaluation(OAT&E) conducted at BLM offices in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Farmington,and Taos, New Mexico. We also reviewed the results of the OAT&E. To meetour second objective, we reviewed our prior reports and briefings to theSubcommittee and summarized the major problems, causes,recommendations, and BLM’s actions to correct problems. To meet ourthird objective, we formulated recommendations based on our analysis ofthe OAT&E results and our observations and analyses of the management ofthe ALMRS/Modernization project from March 1995 to March 1999.

During our work we discussed the project with prime contractor officials;contractor officials responsible for independent OAT&E and verification andvalidation; a Department of the Interior senior technical analyst; Interior’sChief Information Officer; officials of the department’s Office of InspectorGeneral; BLM’s Assistant Director and Deputy Assistant Director for IRM;and BLM budget analysts.

We performed our work at Interior’s information resources managementheadquarters in Washington, D.C.; BLM headquarters in Washington, D.C.;the ALMRS/Modernization project office in Lakewood, Colorado; the primecontractor’s office in Golden, Colorado; ALMRS pilot site offices in Santa Fe,Albuquerque, Farmington, and Taos, New Mexico; and the independentOAT&E and verification and validation contractor’s office in theALMRS/Modernization project office in Lakewood, Colorado. We requestedand received comments on a draft of our testimony from the DeputyDirector of BLM and incorporated BLM’s comments as appropriate. Weperformed our work from July 20, 1998 to March 3, 1999, in accordancewith generally accepted government auditing standards.


Appendix III

Major Contributors to This Report

Accounting andInformationManagement Division,Washington, D.C.

David G. Gill, Assistant DirectorMirko J. Dolak, Technical Assistant DirectorE. Randolph Tekeley, Technical Assistant DirectorElizabeth A. Roach, Analyst-in-ChargeMichael P. Fruitman, Communications Analyst


Related Products

Land Management Systems: Actions Needed in Completing the AutomatedLand and Mineral Record System Development (GAO/AIMD-98-107, May 15,1998).

Land Management Systems: Information on BLM’s Automated Land andMineral Record System Release 2 Project (GAO/AIMD-97-109R, June 6, 1997).

Land Management Systems: BLM Faces Risks in Completing the AutomatedLand and Mineral Record System (GAO/AIMD-97-42, March 19, 1997).

Land Management Systems: Progress and Risks in Developing BLM’s Landand Mineral Record System (GAO/AIMD-95-180, August 31, 1995).

Land Management Systems: Extensive Cost Increases and Delays in BLM’sMajor Data Base Project (GAO/IMTEC-91-55, August 5, 1991).

(511749) GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software DevelopmentPage 20

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