Summary: Billions of dollars in current and future Defense Department (DOD) weapons and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems depend on high-performance, correctly functioning, real-time computer systems that hold up under severe stresses. Yet the Pentagon's mission-critical systems continue to be plagued by a host of long-standing software development problems, including cost, schedule, and performance shortfalls. This report provides an overview of earlier GAO work on mission-critical systems. Many studies both by GAO and DOD have pointed out a variety of deficiencies, ranging from a lack of management attention to ill-defined system requirements to inadequate testing. Why has this situation persisted for so long? GAO notes that the understanding of software as a product and of software development as a process is not keeping pace with the growing complexity of existing and emerging mission-critical systems. The Pentagon is trying to overcome this dilemma through two main programs--the software action plan working group and the Corporate Information Management initiative. Whether these efforts will solve the military's formidable software problems is uncertain; there are no easy answers.
