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IMTEC-93-21R 1 (1993-02-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackfw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~1AI~ United States GAO General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Information Management and Technology Division B-252263 February 26, 1993 Mr. Reed Phillips, Jr. Director for Information Resources Management Department of Commerce 148566 Dear Mr. Phillips: The purpose of this letter is to inform you that we are terminating our review of information resources management (IRM) at the Department of Commerce. Our recently completed work concentrated on the operations of the central Office of Information Resources Management (OIRM). Because much of the IRM function is delegated to the various bureaus within Commerce, we believe a thorough IRM evaluation should include a review of IRM activities at each bureau. Such a review would require more resources than we can commit at this time. During our work we interviewed program managers, system users, and IRM staff at Commerce headquarters and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Bureaus of Census, Economic Analysis, and Export Administration; and the International Trade Administration. Staff at each level believe that your office has helped improve the acquisition of information resources. We identified three areas, however, that need improvement. A discussion of these areas follows. First, while OIRM devotes a great deal of attention to information technology planning and acquisition, it does not oversee systems after their implementation, nor does it play a proactive role in promoting a centralized approach to meeting information systems requirements. Because of the lack of oversight, the headquarters office does not keep track of problems that occur after a system is implemented--the first step toward preventing repetition of those problems in the future.' Also, OIRM has not taken a proactive role in improving information technology. While your office reacts to information technology proposals submitted by the bureaus, it doesnot actively promote improvements. Because Commerce is composed of bureaus with distinctly different missions, the headquarters OIRM is in a unique position to GAO/IMTEC-93-21R, COMMERCE: Information Management 61

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