The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling for new tech project leadership and oversight at the Department of the Interior following a failed effort to modernize one of the agency’s critical IT systems.
In a Sept. 10 report, GAO called out Interior’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) for failing to effectively lead the department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) project to modernize the system it uses to track oil and gas activities.
BLM initiated an effort in 2013 to modernize its data system for tracking oil and gas activities on Federal and Tribal trust lands. In September 2020, GAO identified BLM’s effort to modernize as one of the 16 most critical IT acquisitions across the Federal government.
After fully deploying this system – known as the Automated Fluid Minerals Support System (AFMSS) 2 – BLM declared the system a failure in 2021.
According to the government watchdog’s report, the system cost $40 million – triple BLM’s original estimate – and was four years behind schedule.
Additionally, while BLM anticipated the modernization would increase productivity, it found that the new system required an additional 564,770 hours of labor to complete tasks in 2021 alone, costing over $19 million in lost productivity.
“The extent of the system’s problems was so severe that Interior could not use the new system as the system of record for oil and gas activities, relying instead on paper records,” the 35-page report says. “According to BLM, the system remains operational but has continued to have significant reliability and data integrity issues.”
GAO said a key factor contributing to the critical IT system failing was the lack of effective leadership and oversight.
“Interior officials who oversee IT projects stated they were not aware of the system’s failure until GAO raised it to their attention. After being notified of the failure, Interior has continued to publicly report that the system is a very low-risk investment,” the report says.
“However, serious problems have continued since its deployment in 2021,” GAO continued, “As a result, BLM has started a new initiative intended to replace the system. Effective Interior leadership and oversight are essential to preventing a repeat of the problems that have plagued the system.”
In its budget request for fiscal year 2025, BLM requested $11 million to develop a system to replace AFMSS 2.
According to the GAO, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. – ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management – requested the watchdog review this IT modernization effort. GAO conducted its performance audit from December 2023 to September 2024.
GAO made three recommendations to Interior and BLM, including developing a policy for project baselines, and strengthening leadership and oversight for the effort to replace the system.
Interior agreed to implement all three recommendations. In his written response to the report, Interior CIO Darren Ash highlighted actions BLM has already taken to strengthen “overall bureau-wide controls.”
For example, BLM created an Information Management and Technology Directorate within bureau headquarters to oversee future IT investments and developments. The bureau also established a Portfolio Review Committee and an Enterprise Solutions Committee. Among other actions, BLM also onboarded a permanent associate CIO and conducts regular portfolio reviews with the department’s OCIO to discuss areas of improvement for IT initiatives.
