Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE IS
IMPROVING MANAGEMENT CONTROLS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLANNING AND
CAPITAL INVESTMENTS
Issued on July 9, 2010
Highlights
Highlights of
Report Number: 2010-20-064 to the Internal
Revenue Service Chief Technology Officer.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Strategy and Capital Planning office
focuses on IRS-wide information technology strategy
and capital planning and investment controls.
This office is improving its management controls for managing
information technology investments at the IRS.
Effective management of information technology products promotes
efficient use of funds and helps to provide taxpayers the customer service they
need from the IRS.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
This audit was initiated as part of our Fiscal Year 2010
Annual Audit Plan and addresses the major management challenge of Modernization
of the IRS. Our overall objective was to
determine the effectiveness of the controls for the IRS’ Capital Planning and
Investment Control (CPIC) process to manage and control information technology
investments.
WHAT
TIGTA FOUND
The IRS recently merged its investment management activities
into the Strategy and Capital Planning office. The Director, Strategy and Capital Planning,
is completing the office charter, updating the CPIC Process Guide, developing desk
guides for business cases and data calls, and identifying the steps for implementing
a systematic investment selection, monitoring, and review process.
The IRS also provides
appropriate information about its information technology investment status for
the Office of Management and Budget’s Information Technology Dashboard.
The Information Technology Investment Management Framework identifies and establishes critical information technology investment processes. It also assesses an organization’s information technology investment management capability and maturity based on five stages and offers recommendations for improvement. TIGTA reviewed the Strategy and Capital Planning office’s self-assessment and concurred that the IRS was at Maturity Stage 2, which is building an investment foundation. The IRS is currently moving toward Maturity Stage 3, which is developing a complete investment portfolio.
The
Clinger-Cohen Act requires each executive agency to design and implement a
process for maximizing the value and assessing and managing the risk of the
information technology acquisitions.
Although the Strategy and Capital Planning office has implemented a CPIC
process that generally meets the requirements of the Clinger-Cohen Act, its
process does not address the requirement for identifying investments that would result in shared benefits or costs for
other Federal agencies or State or local governments.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
To ensure compliance with the Clinger-Cohen Act, TIGTA
recommended that the Chief Technology Officer 1) identify applications in the information technology inventory that share benefits and costs with
other Federal agencies or State or
local governments and 2) establish a CPIC process for maximizing the
value and assessing and managing the risk of these information technology
acquisitions.
In its
response to the report, the IRS agreed with our recommendations. The IRS plans to develop an information
technology inventory of applications that share benefits and costs with other
Federal agencies or State or local governments and to amend the CPIC process
and guide documents to include the information relative to investments
providing shared benefits.
READ THE
FULL REPORT
To view the report,
including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to:
http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2010reports/201020064fr.html.
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site:
http://www.tigta.gov