Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Information Systems Management (ISM) organization to assess its management of resources. GAO noted that: (1) IRS developed an action plan for ensuring proper utilization of computer resources; (2) ISM policy allows employees to use government computers for nonmission-related purposes during light workload periods to improve employees' automatic data processing skills; (3) IRS reorganized the two ISM systems development divisions into three divisions to restructure systems development activities to correspond to the major areas of Tax Systems Modernization; (4) ISM initiated a study of IRS ability to deliver projects that employ advanced systems development technologies and methods; (5) an IRS study found a need for improvements in information systems planning for ISM projects as well as in ISM management and control of software development resources, budgets, and costs; and (6) GAO found no specific examples of underutilized staff.
