Department of Energy: Problems in the Management and Use of
Supercomputers (Statement/Record, 07/14/1999, GAO/T-RCED-99-257).
The Department of Energy (DOE) spent about $826 million between 1994 and
1997 acquiring and operating supercomputers. The computers support
various uses, and DOE's largest supercomputer effort -- the Accelerated
Strategic Computing Initiative -- is a critical part of the agency's
attempt to build the capability for "virtual testing" as a replacement
for the actual testing of nuclear weapons. This testimony covers how
effectively DOE has managed the use and acquisition of its
supercomputers and the management of its strategic computing initiative.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: T-RCED-99-257
TITLE: Department of Energy: Problems in the Management and Use
of Supercomputers
DATE: 07/14/1999
SUBJECT: Supercomputers
Federal procurement
Information resources management
Strategic information systems planning
Laboratories
Internal controls
ADP procurement
Future budget projections
IDENTIFIER: DOE Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative
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United States General Accounting Office GAO
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Basic Research, Committee on
Science, House of Representatives To Be Released on Delivery
DEPARTMENT OF Expected at 2 p.m. EDT ENERGY Wednesday
July 14, 1999 Problems in the Management and Use of Supercomputers
Statement For the Record by Susan D. Kladiva, Associate Director,
Energy, Resources, and Science Issues, Resources, Community, and
Economic Development Division GAO/T-RCED-99-257 Mr. Chairman and
Members of the Subcommittee: We appreciate the opportunity to
provide a statement for the record on the Department of Energy's
(DOE) use, acquisition, and management of its supercomputing
resources. The Department spent about $826 million between 1994
and 1997 acquiring and operating supercomputers. These computers
support a variety of uses, and DOE's largest supercomputer effort-
the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative-is a critical part
of DOE's attempt to build the capability for "virtual testing" as
a replacement for the actual testing of nuclear weapons. DOE
estimates that it will spend about $5.2 billion on the strategic
computing initiative between fiscal years 1996 and 2004. Our
testimony covers how effectively DOE has managed the use and
acquisition of its supercomputers, and DOE's management of its
strategic computing initiative. Our testimony is based on two
reports we issued in 1998 and 1999.1 In summary, we found that DOE
had not effectively overseen the use and acquisition of
supercomputers and that oversight of the $5.2 billion strategic
computing initiative is hampered by weaknesses in management and
information processes. In July 1998, we reported that DOE's
national laboratories used only about 59 percent of their
available supercomputing capacity and were missing opportunities
to share these resources. At that time, DOE had about 17 percent
of the world's supercomputing capacity and was planning to almost
triple its capacity over the next 3 years. In terms of managing
acquisitions of supercomputers, we concluded that DOE has not
effectively overseen the process. Furthermore, the strategic
computing initiative's strategic plan is out of date, annual plans
have been prepared only sporadically, and milestones are not well
defined. Currently, little information exists to track the
program's progress or to compare the program's accomplishments
with its milestones. Consequently, it is difficult to determine
which of the hundreds of milestones have been met, which are
behind schedule, or even which are still relevant, given changes
in the program. Background In July 1998, we reported that nine
DOE laboratories have supercomputers. DOE's program offices fund
supercomputer purchases (or leases), and the laboratories'
management and operating contractors acquire and operate the
systems. According to DOE, it acquires new supercomputers
relatively frequently because of rapidly changing technology.
Since 1993, when 1Information Technology: Department of Energy
Does Not Effectively Manage Its Supercomputers (GAO/RCED-98-208,
July 17, 1998) and Nuclear Weapons: DOE Needs to Improve Oversight
of the $5 Billion Strategic Computing Initiative (GAO/RCED-99-195,
June 28, 1999). Page 1
GAO/T-RCED-99-257 statistics were first collected, DOE has
consistently had several supercomputers that have ranked among the
world's most powerful as measured by a list of the top 500
supercomputers in the world. DOE uses supercomputers to support
two major research missions. First, DOE uses them in the strategic
computing initiative to ensure the safety and reliability of
nuclear weapons. The initiative is part of DOE's Office of Defense
Programs' nuclear stockpile stewardship program. DOE created the
initiative as a substitute for the physical testing of nuclear
weapons. The initiative is intended to provide the unprecedented
simulation capabilities needed to help verify the safety and
reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons without nuclear testing. The
estimated cost of the initiative is about $5.2 billion for fiscal
years 1996 through 2004. Second, DOE's Office of Science funds
non-defense computational research projects, including specific
science and engineering problems that require large-scale
supercomputing capability. In 1996, the Congress passed the
Clinger-Cohen Act, which requires federal agencies to adopt a
comprehensive approach to acquiring and managing information
technology (including supercomputers), and charged the Office of
Management and Budget with oversight responsibility. DOE Does Not
We found that DOE had not effectively overseen the use and
acquisition of Effectively Manage Its supercomputers. During 1997,
DOE's national laboratories used only about 59 percent of their
available supercomputing capacity and were missing Supercomputers
opportunities to share these resources. Utilization rates varied
among the laboratories from about 31 percent to about 75 percent.
At that time, DOE had about 17 percent of the world's
supercomputing capacity and was planning to almost triple its
capacity during fiscal years 1998 through 2000. Sharing of
supercomputers among DOE laboratories and with DOE-funded off-site
users was not generally considered by the Department as a way to
better use existing resources and/or to forgo the need to acquire
more supercomputers. In addition, the largest supercomputers were
not being used to run the very large-scale programs that were used
to justify their acquisition. In 1997, for example, less than 5
percent of the jobs run on the largest supercomputers used more
than one-half of the machines' capabilities. Because DOE does not
manage supercomputers centrally, no single person or office within
the Department knows at a given time how many Page 2
GAO/T-RCED-99-257 supercomputers the Department has agency-wide,
what they cost, or how they are being utilized. The Department
lacks an investment strategy and a defined process to ensure that
supercomputer acquisitions are fully justified and represent the
best use of funds among competing priorities. Instead, individual
program offices (e.g., Office of Defense Programs, Office of
Science) independently procure and operate supercomputers and the
Department's chief information officer does not oversee the
acquisition of these supercomputers. As a result, new
supercomputers are planned and acquired with little departmental
oversight, while underutilized capacity already exists within the
Department. We also reported that DOE's proposed implementation of
the Clinger-Cohen Act would not improve departmental oversight. In
April 1998, the Department outlined its plan to implement a new
investment planning and oversight process for information
technology in response to the Clinger-Cohen Act. DOE's process
separately manages administrative and scientific computers,
leaving the responsibility for scientific computers-including
supercomputers-to individual program offices. This proposed
approach reflects the view of the Department's program offices
that supercomputers are research "tools" rather than information
technology investments. This approach may also allow DOE's program
offices to continue acquiring supercomputers outside the
Department's normal process for complying with the Clinger-Cohen
Act. Contrary to what is envisioned in the Clinger-Cohen Act, this
approach effectively places the vast majority of DOE's information
technology resources outside the purview of the chief information
officer. DOE Needs to In June 1999, we reported that
significant weaknesses in DOE's Improve Oversight of management
and information processes hamper the oversight of the strategic
computing initiative. Although program managers report that the
Strategic many milestones have been met, the lack of a
comprehensive planning and Computing Initiative progress
tracking system makes assessment of the program's progress
difficult and subjective. Currently, the program's strategic plan
is out of date, annual plans have been prepared only sporadically,
and milestones are not well defined. Furthermore, little
information exists to track the program's progress or to compare
the program's accomplishments with its milestones. Consequently,
it is difficult to determine which of the hundreds of milestones
have been met, which are behind schedule, or even which are still
relevant, given changes in the program. Page 3
GAO/T-RCED-99-257 Program cost estimates have also increased
substantially. In 1995, DOE estimated that costs for the first 5
years of the program (fiscal years 1996 through 2001) would be
$1.7 billion. By 1999, estimated costs for that same 5-year period
increased to $2.9 billion. DOE currently estimates that the
program will cost about $5.2 billion for fiscal years 1996 through
2004. Some of the cost increases result from the shift to
computer-based simulations, while some reflect weaknesses in DOE's
cost estimation. Contact and For future contacts regarding
this testimony, please contact Susan D. Acknowledgment Kladiva
at (202) 512-3841. Individuals making contributions to this
testimony included Linda Chu, Daniel Feehan, Anne McCaffrey, and
Edward Zadjura. (141364) Page 4
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