Agency performed well in planning, requirements management and technical analysis

The GAO has issued a pair of reports that point to problems with IT management and oversight at the Federal Aviation Administration. specifically, the report states that the FAA needs to improveme its software acquisition processes and work to eliminate a series of weak points that will lead to cost overruns, delays and other shortfalls.

The reports, according to Government Computer News, state that the FAA is doing well in the areas of project planning, requirements management and the identification of approaches to resolve technical issues related to the acquisition of IT technology.

However, it also found shortcomings in the agency's verification, QA and performance measurement, as well as in needs analysis. GAO also applauded the agency's adoption of the Integrated Capability Maturity Model to analyze software development skill maturity, but noted that project managers are being given the option to use or ignore the Model in their projects.

“The projects that have adopted the model have demonstrated growth in the maturity of their processes, and more and more projects have adopted the model,” GAO said.  “The recurring weaknesses we identified in our project-specific evaluations are due in part to the choices these projects were given in deciding whether and how to adopt this process improvement initiative."

The report recommends that the FAA implements the model, or an equivalent, in the entire Air Traffic Organization, and should standardize its measurement and oversight processes throughout the agency.

FAA officials expressed general agreement with the audit findings and have begin implementing the recommendations.

FMI: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04901.pdf, www.gao.gov/new.items/d04822.pdf