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Info about GAO concerning MIDAS
| Posted on June 23, 2015 at 9:07 PM |
From: Hunter
Moorhead, NASCOE Legislative Consultant Subject: MIDAS Program Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 18:59:37 +0000 As a
follow-up to previous emails, the General Accountability Office (GAO) recently
released their MIDAS report. The highlights are below for your review. In
addition, the full report (67 pages) is attached for people who want to review
the entire report. As we move forward, I expect the Department of Agriculture
to respond to GAO regarding the proposed recommendations. The Congress will
review this report and determine the pathway forward. Hunter What
GAO Found The key
factors that led to the decision to halt the Modernize and Innovate the
Delivery of Agricultural Systems (MIDAS) program were poor program performance
and uncertainty regarding future plans. The Farm Service Agency (FSA)
experienced significant cost overruns and schedule delays, deferred the
majority of the envisioned features, skipped key tests, and deployed software
in April 2013 that was slow and inaccurate. In addition, FSA struggled to
establish a new program baseline as estimates grew from $330 million to $659
million and time frames were delayed from early 2014 to late 2016. The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and FSA did not approve three different
baseline proposals by the time the program was halted. By March 2015, MIDAS had
overrun its baseline cost estimate by $93 million. FSA has
delivered about 20 percent of the functionality that was originally planned for
MIDAS. FSA envisioned MIDAS as a single platform to host data, tools, and
applications for administering farm program benefits that would be integrated
with USDA financial, geospatial, and data warehouse systems. However, FSA
delivered a platform that hosts data for administering farm program benefits
and is integrated with USDA's geospatial system; it does not host tools and
applications for administering benefits, and is not integrated with USDA's
financial system or data warehouse. Figure:
Comparison of Functions Planned and Delivered FSA did
not have key program management disciplines in place for MIDAS, and lacks the
capacity to effectively manage successor programs. Of 18 key practices
associated with sound IT acquisition and investment management and required by USDA
or FSA policy, FSA implemented 2, partially implemented 7 practices, and did
not implement 9 others. For example, USDA and FSA did not establish a complete
set of requirements, perform key tests before deploying the system, or provide
effective oversight as the program floundered for 2 years. Moving forward, FSA
has begun planning how it will continue to automate, integrate, and modernize
its farm program services through additional system development initiatives.
However, the agency has not yet established plans to improve its management
capabilities. Until FSA establishes and implements such a plan, the agency will
continue to lack the fundamental capacity to manage IT acquisitions. Further,
until FSA addresses shortfalls in key program management disciplines on
successor programs to MIDAS, the agency will be at an increased risk of having
additional projects that overrun cost and schedule estimates and contribute
little to mission-related outcomes. Why GAO
Did This Study Since
2004, FSA has spent about $423 million to modernize IT systems through a
program known as MIDAS. FSA planned for this program to replace aging hardware
and software applications and to provide a single platform to manage all of the
agency's farm programs. However, the agency experienced significant challenges
in managing this program. In July 2014, the Secretary of Agriculture decided to
halt MIDAS after the completion of a second software release. GAO was
asked to review the MIDAS program. This report (1) describes what led to the
decision to halt further MIDAS development, (2) compares the functionality that
MIDAS has implemented to its original plans, and (3) evaluates the adequacy of
key program management disciplines in place for MIDAS and successor programs. To do
so, GAO analyzed agency policies and guidance; evaluated program management
plans and related artifacts, program and contractor status reports, program
milestone artifacts, and lessons learned; obtained a live demonstration of
MIDAS; and interviewed agency and contractor officials. What
GAO Recommends GAO is
making five recommendations to FSA, including establishing and implementing a
plan for adopting recognized best practices. GAO received written comments from
the FSA administrator. While the agency did not explicitly agree or disagree
with the recommendations, it cited steps it has taken or plans to take to
implement best practices. Recommendations
for Executive Action · Secretary
of Agriculture should direct the FSA Administrator to establish and implement
an improvement plan to guide the agency in adopting recognized best practices
and following agency policy. · Secretary
of Agriculture should direct the FSA Administrator to adhere to recognized best
practices and agency policy in developing and managing system requirements
before proceeding with any further system development to deliver previously
envisioned MIDAS functionality. Specifically, the Administrator should ensure
that requirements are complete, unambiguous, and prioritized; commitment to
requirements is obtained through a formal requirements baseline; differences
(or gaps) between the requirements and capabilities of the intended solution
(including commercial off-the-shelf solutions) are analyzed; strategies to
address any gaps are developed; and requirements are traced forward and
backward among development products. · Secretary
of Agriculture should direct the FSA Administrator to adhere to recognized best
practices and agency policy in planning and monitoring projects. Specifically,
the Administrator should ensure that project plans include predefined
expectations for cost, schedule, and deliverables before proceeding with any
further system development; updates to the project plan are made through change
control processes; and progress against the project plan, including work
performed by contractors, is monitored. · Secretary
of Agriculture should direct the FSA Administrator to adhere to recognized best
practices and agency policy in system testing. Specifically, the Administrator
should establish well-defined test plans before proceeding with any further
system development, and ensure that testing of (a) individual system components,
(b) the integration of system components, and (c) the end-to-end system are
conducted. · Secretary
of Agriculture should direct the FSA Administrator to adhere to recognized best
practices and agency policy in executive-level IT governance before proceeding
with any further system development. Specifically, an executive-level
governance board should (1) review and approve a comprehensive business case
that includes a life cycle cost estimate, a cost-benefit analysis, and an
analysis of alternatives for proposed solutions that are to provide former
MIDAS requirements prior to their implementation; (2) ensure that any programs
that are to accommodate former MIDAS requirements are fully implementing the IT
program management disciplines and practices identified in this report; (3)
conduct a post-implementation review and document lessons learned for the MIDAS
investment; and (4) reassess the viability of the MIDAS technical solution
before investing in further modernization technologies. From: Hunter
Moorhead Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 4:25 PM Subject: MIDAS Program Good
afternoon – Please know that both the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
and USDA's Inspector General will soon release reports related to FSA's
management of the MIDAS program. Unfortunately, both reports will be critical
of FSA's leadership and USDA's inability to properly manage/implement the
program. If contacted by the press, please direct those calls to Mark Vanhoose
so that any response will be coordinated and delivered on behalf of NASCOE.
Other than that, the Congress has been out of session this week so the
legislative work has been uneventful. Keep in touch, Hunter |
Categories: Legislative, MIDAS
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