Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) information resources management (IRM), focusing on how the agency plans and develops information technology to meet its mission.
GAO found that: (1) the FCC mission is becoming increasingly demanding; (2) FCC plans to spend about $11 million on information technology to support mission and administrative functions between fiscal years (FY) 1990 and 1993; (3) FCC has not developed a strategic IRM plan that builds on its business strategy by identifying the goals, direction, and information needed to meet its mission; (4) FCC recognized a decade ago that information technology could help it accomplish its mission, but did not introduce automation into its reference rooms; (5) FCC did not implement a proposal to use electronic filing for license applications because it did not periodically review progress on IRM proposals; (6) some FCC information systems development policies and practices are not consistent with federal guidelines for preparing thorough cost-benefit analyses of alternative systems; and (7) FCC has not prepared a continuity-of-operations plan, identified its critical information systems, or prepared detailed emergency procedures.
