Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO analyzed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) $240-million fiscal year (FY) 1991 information technology systems budget request.
GAO found that: (1) SSA requested $6 million in FY 1991 for a new project intended to furnish systems integration services to help SSA plan, implement, and manage its current and future modernization activities; (2) SSA decided not to implement the system integration project in FY 1991 because it had not finalized its requirements; (3) SSA planned to reallocate the $6 million to other system enhancement projects; (4) the SSA request for $5 million for an office automation project in FY 1991, which would be used to acquire more office automation equipment and services, understated its funding needs for FY 1991 by about $46 million; (5) SSA projected that office automation would cost $25 million between FY 1991 and FY 1995, although its documentation showed that it understated office automation needs through FY 1995 by as much as $122 million.
