Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service's (ASCS) two major information resources management projects, focusing on: (1) the costs and schedule delays for the Grain Inventory Management System (GIMS) and Processed Commodity Inventory Management System (PCIMS); and (2) how ASCS monitored and managed disk capacity to determine upgrades for minicomputers in its county offices.
GAO found that: (1) current cost estimates for the two commodity inventory systems amounted to approximately $62 million, almost nine times the initial estimate of $7 million; (2) ASCS misjudgment of user requirements resulted in its underestimation of both systems' size and scope; (3) the lack of management control over system design changes resulted in increased system complexity and the automation of unnecessary functions with no cost-saving potential; (4) poor contract management, interagency coordination, and some external factors contributed to system development problems; (5) since weaknesses existed in ASCS county office minicomputer disk capacity management, the ASCS request for $258 million for future disk capacity requirements is based on current inefficient disk use; and (6) ASCS lacked reliable information to justify its request for interim computer equipment upgrades.
