United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-07-17 monographic deposited born digital 61 p. GA 1.13:RCED-98-208 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208 P0b002ee18039a1c9 f:rc98208 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208 RCED-98-208 ADP procurement Supercomputers Information resources management Future budget projections Research and development facilities Strategic information systems planning Chief information officers Interagency relations DOE Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative Chapter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) acquisition and use of supercomputers, focusing on the: (1) number and cost of the supercomputers DOE acquired in fiscal years (FY) 1994 through 1997 and the number and proposed funding for planned major supercomputer acquisitions in FY 1998 through FY 2000; (2) stated need for DOE's supercomputers, the utilization rates for them, and the potential for facilities to share these resources; and (3) process DOE and its contractors employ to validate the need for additional supercomputers and contracts that process with the technology investment process set forth in the Clinger-Cohen Act.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) DOE has about 17 percent of the world's supercomputing capacity and is planning to almost triple its capacity over the next 3 years; (2) during FY 1998 through FY 2000, the Department plans to acquire five major supercomputers at an estimated cost of $257 million; (3) overall, DOE's national laboratories used only about 59 percent of their available supercomputing capacity in 1997 and are missing opportunities to share these resources; (4) the sharing of supercomputers among DOE's laboratories and with DOE-funded off-site users is not generally considered as a way to better use existing resources and to forgo the need to acquire more supercomputers; (5) DOE has not effectively overseen the acquisition and use of supercomputers; (6) 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; (7) instead, the Department's existing management processes separate supercomputer acquisitions from the projects they support, and the Department's chief information officer does not oversee the acquisition or use of supercomputers; (8) as a result, new supercomputers are planned and acquired with little departmental oversight, while underutilized capacity already exists within the Department; (9) DOE's proposed implementation of the Clinger-Cohen Act will not improve departmental oversight; (10) 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; (11) this proposed approach reflects the view of the Department's program offices that supercomputers are research tools rather than information technology investments; (12) 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; (13) 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 Department's chief information officer; (14) in addition, the cost and significance of the supercomputers being developed under the Department's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) warrants that program's being designated as a strategic system subject to the highest level of departmental oversight; and (15) the ASCI program is estimated to cost about $4 billion from FY 1996 through FY 2010. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208.pdf GAO/RCED-98-208 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-98-208 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-98-208; Information Technology: Department of Energy Does Not Effectively Manage Its Supercomputers; ADP procurement Supercomputers Information resources management Future budget projections Research and development facilities Strategic information systems planning Chief information officers Interagency relations DOE Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative