DoD Financial Management: Additional Steps Needed to Guide Future Systems Transitions : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , June , 2024
DoD Financial Management: Additional Steps Needed to Guide Future Systems Transitions : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , June , 2024
From the report: “The Department of Defense (DOD) used selected leading practices in estimating cost and schedule and in measuring progress of the Marine Corps’ migration to an accounting system known as the Defense Agencies Initiative but did not implement all practices. For example, although DOD documented program costs, it did not include all Marine Corps’ transition costs in its $1.448 billion life cycle estimate. DOD also did not include all effort (e.g., work required) in its schedule estimate for the Marine Corps’ transition to the Defense Agencies Initiative. Further, the Marine Corps did not fully develop performance metrics. Marine Corps officials stated that they followed standard procedures for DOD components transitioning to the Defense Agencies Initiative. However, those procedures do not call for components to include all costs in estimates, include all effort in schedule estimates, or establish comprehensive metrics. As a result, the Marine Corps underestimated the complexity and time required for its transition. The Marine Corps initially planned to move from a stabilization phase to normal operations by December 2021. However, it did not complete the stabilization phase and enter normal operations until February 2024. Regarding data migration and conversion, the Marine Corps followed five leading practices and partially followed five others. For example, the Marine Corps developed a comprehensive conversion plan that included time frames, program scope, data for conversion, and system inputs and outputs, but did not develop plans for post-go-live data cleansing and quality activities (see table). For change management, the Marine Corps followed four practices and partially followed three others. For example, it communicated with stakeholders to manage commitment, but it did not directly assess stakeholder resistance to change.”
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