Land Management Systems: Major Software Development Does Not Meet BLM's
Business Needs (Letter Report, 04/30/1999, GAO/AIMD-99-135).
GAO recently testified that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had
spent more than 15 years and $411 million to develop the Automated Land
and Mineral Record System (ALMRS)/Modernization, only to have the major
software component fail to meet its needs. (See GAO/T-AIMD-99-102, Mar.
1999.) GAO recommended steps that BLM should take to deal with this
issue. This report transmits GAO's recommendations to help BLM
strengthen its information technology management practices and reduce
the risks that future information technology efforts will be similarly
unsuccessful.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: AIMD-99-135
TITLE: Land Management Systems: Major Software Development Does
Not Meet BLM's Business Needs
DATE: 04/30/1999
SUBJECT: Land management
Management information systems
Systems conversions
Systems design
Information resources management
Computer software verification and validation
Strategic information systems planning
Computer software
ADP procurement
IDENTIFIER: BLM Automated Land and Minerals Record System
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GAO/AIMD-99-135
LAND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: Major Software Development Does Not Meet
BLM's Business Needs GAO/AIMD-99-135 United States General
Accounting Office
GAO Report to the Secretary of the Interior
April 1999 LAND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Major Software Development Does
Not Meet BLM's Business Needs
GAO/AIMD-99-135
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 Babbitt The Secretary
of the Interior
Dear Mr. Secretary: On March 4, 1999, we testified before the
Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, House Committee on
Appropriations, on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) efforts
to develop and deploy the Automated Land and Mineral Record System
(ALMRS). 1 In our testimony, we (1) reported that BLM spent over
15 years and invested about $411 million in planning and
developing the ALMRS/ Modernization, only to have the major
software component known as the ALMRS Initial Operating Capability
(ALMRS IOC) not meet its business needs and (2) recommended
actions that we believe BLM should take to deal with the issues it
now faces.
This report transmits our recommendations to assist BLM in
strengthening its information technology management practices and
reducing the risks that future information technology efforts will
result in a similar outcome. We are sending this report to you
because of the significant investment BLM has made in the ALMRS/
Modernization and the department's stated intent to use ALMRS as
its land management system. Our testimony is reprinted in appendix
I, and our objectives, scope, and methodology are presented in
appendix II. As you know, we incorporated BLM's comments into our
testimony before finalizing it. We performed our work from July
20, 1998 to March 3, 1999, in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
Recommendations We recommend that the Secretary of the Interior
ensure that BLM take the following 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 to meet the bureau's needs. This analysis
should be part of an overall effort to 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
1 Land 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 Development Page 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 is assured that it has fully verified its
current business requirements. Assess and strengthen its
investment management practices to help avoid
future problems. The Clinger- Cohen Act of 1996 seeks to maximize
the return on investments in information systems by requiring
agencies to institute sound capital investment decision- making.
Under the act, agencies must design and implement a process for
maximizing the value and assessing and managing the risks of
information technology acquisitions. The act also requires
agencies to (1) assess the knowledge and skills of their executive
and management staff to meet agencies' information resources
management requirements, and take steps to rectify any
deficiencies and (2) develop, maintain, and facilitate the
implementation of a sound and integrated information technology
architecture. Effectively enforcing a sound information technology
architecture to guide and constrain a modernization program can
preclude inconsistent systems design and development decisions,
suboptimal performance, 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
and corrective actions taken, BLM should not undertake any sizable
systems acquisition or development efforts.
This report contains recommendations to you. The head of a federal
agency is required by 31 U. S. C. 720 to submit a written
statement on actions taken on these recommendations to the Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on
Government Reform not later than 60 days after the date of this
report. A written statement also must be sent to the House and
Senate Committees on Appropriations with the agency's first
request for appropriations made more than 60 days after the 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 on Appropriations; and Senator Slade Gorton,
Chairman, and Senator Robert C. Byrd, Ranking Minority Member,
Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, Senate Committee on
Appropriations. We are also sending copies of this report to The
Honorable Jacob Lew, Director, Office
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 2
B-282446
of Management and Budget, and Mr. Tom Fry, Acting Director, Bureau
of Land Management. Copies will also be made available to others
upon request.
Should you or your staff have any questions concerning this
report, please contact me at (202) 512- 6253. I can also be
reached by e- mail at
willemssenj. aimd@ gao. gov. Major contributors to this report are
listed in appendix III.
Sincerely yours, Joel C. Willemssen Director, Civil Agencies
Information
Systems
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 3
Contents Letter 1 Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
6 Appendix II Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
18 Appendix III Major Contributors to This Report
19 Related Products 20
Abbreviations
ALMRS Automated Land and Mineral Record System BLM Bureau of Land
Management IOC initial operating capability IRM information
resources management OAT& E operational assessment test and
evaluation
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 4
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 5
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 6
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 7
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 8
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 9
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 10
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 11
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 12
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 13
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 14
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 15
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 16
Appendix I GAO's March 4, 1999 Testimony
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 17
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 our reviews, 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 history of the ALMRS/ Modernization project. We also reviewed
ALMRS/ Modernization project documents, weekly activity reports
and assessments by the independent verification and validation
contractor, software problem reports, and project management
schedules. We attended the Department of the Interior's August 4-
6, 1998, quarterly review of the development project 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 meet our second objective, we reviewed our prior reports and
briefings to the Subcommittee and summarized the major problems,
causes, recommendations, and BLM's actions to correct problems. To
meet our third objective, we formulated recommendations based on
our analysis of the OAT& E results and our observations and
analyses of the management of the 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 and validation; a Department of the Interior
senior technical analyst; Interior's Chief Information Officer;
officials of the department's Office of Inspector General; BLM's
Assistant Director and Deputy Assistant Director for IRM; and BLM
budget analysts.
We performed our work at Interior's information resources
management headquarters in Washington, D. C.; BLM headquarters in
Washington, D. C.; the ALMRS/ Modernization project office in
Lakewood, Colorado; the prime contractor's office in Golden,
Colorado; ALMRS pilot site offices in Santa Fe, Albuquerque,
Farmington, and Taos, New Mexico; and the independent OAT& E and
verification and validation contractor's office in the ALMRS/
Modernization project office in Lakewood, Colorado. We requested
and received comments on a draft of our testimony from the Deputy
Director of BLM and incorporated BLM's comments as appropriate. We
performed our work from July 20, 1998 to March 3, 1999, in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 18
Appendix III Major Contributors to This Report
Accounting and Information Management Division, Washington, D. C.
David G. Gill, Assistant Director Mirko J. Dolak, Technical
Assistant Director E. Randolph Tekeley, Technical Assistant
Director Elizabeth A. Roach, Analyst- in- Charge Michael P.
Fruitman, Communications Analyst
GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 19
Related Products Land Management Systems: Actions Needed in
Completing the Automated Land and Mineral Record System
Development (GAO/AIMD-98-107, May 15, 1998).
Land Management Systems: Information on BLM's Automated Land and
Mineral Record System Release 2 Project (GAO/AIMD-97-109R, June 6,
1997).
Land Management Systems: BLM Faces Risks in Completing the
Automated Land and Mineral Record System (GAO/AIMD-97-42, March
19, 1997).
Land Management Systems: Progress and Risks in Developing BLM's
Land and Mineral Record System (GAO/AIMD-95-180, August 31, 1995).
Land Management Systems: Extensive Cost Increases and Delays in
BLM's Major Data Base Project (GAO/IMTEC-91-55, August 5, 1991).
(511749) GAO/AIMD-99-135 BLM Software Development Page 20
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