Federal agencies are required to make information on major federal IT investments publicly available, including risk ratings, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that those ratings were not always accurate.
The federal government spends more than $100 billion annually on IT. The Federal IT Dashboard is a public website that provides information to track these investments, including chief information officers’ (CIOs) risk ratings. According to GAO, those ratings “should reflect the level of risk facing an investment relative to its ability to accomplish goals.”
“We reviewed some of the investments on this dashboard and found that their risk ratings weren’t always accurate,” GAO said in an Oct. 7 report.
“Without timely and accurate ratings, high-risk IT investments may not receive proper oversight, leaving the government vulnerable to costly project failures,” the federal watchdog added.
GAO reviewed 26 agencies’ fiscal year 2025 budget data reported to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to identify major IT investments of $35 million or more.
GAO then assessed the risks of the 53 investments at 12 agencies and compared its own assessments to the CIO ratings.
“Of the 53 investments assessed, GAO’s assessments matched the CIO ratings 27 times, showed more risk 24 times, and showed less risk two times,” GAO said.
The watchdog said two issues contributed to the difference in ratings. One is that 21 of the 53 CIO ratings were not updated in a timely manner. The other is that two agencies’ rating processes spanned longer than a calendar quarter, contrary to OMB’s guidance.
Notably, OMB announced in April 2026 that it was taking steps to sunset the Federal IT Dashboard and replace it with a streamlined system. OMB has not provided a timeline for launching the replacement.
“As OMB transitions to a new system, it is imperative that agencies address issues with the quality and frequency of CIO ratings,” GAO said. “This is critical to ensuring that the new system strengthens the monitoring of IT investment risk.”
GAO previously recommended that OMB improve its oversight of “troubled investments identified from CIO rating data,” but OMB has not yet implemented that recommendation.
In its latest report, GAO issued 17 recommendations to nine agencies to improve the quality and frequency of CIO ratings. Five agencies agreed with the recommendations, one agency agreed with one recommendation and disagreed with the other, two agencies disagreed, and one agency did not say whether it agreed or disagreed.
OMB did not comment on the report.