Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration
Office of Audit
PROTOTYPE PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS WILL BENEFIT EFFORTS TO
MODERNIZE TAXPAYER ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATION
Issued on November 24, 2010
Highlights
Highlights of Report Number: 2011-20-001 to the Internal Revenue Service Chief
Technology Officer.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
The mission of the Customer
Account Data Engine (CADE) 2 Program is to provide state-of-the-art individual
taxpayer account processing and technologies to improve service to taxpayers
and enhance Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax
administration. Once completed, the new
modernization environment should allow the IRS to more effectively and
efficiently update taxpayer accounts, support account settlement and maintenance,
and process refunds on a daily basis, which will contribute to improved service
to taxpayers.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
The overall objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness
of CADE 2 Program prototype efforts, including applicable security provisions,
designed to validate the first phase of development plans.
WHAT TIGTA FOUND
The CADE 2 Program Management Office created five prototype teams to
demonstrate confidence in the CADE 2 solution by verifying system
viability and performance and by defining components that will serve as the
foundation for development activities.
The prototype teams generally managed their objectives effectively. The teams also identified risks that faced
the successful execution of the prototype plans and took steps to overcome the
barriers.
The CADE 2 Program Management Office can improve management of: 1) work breakdown structure (task
assignments) development, 2) prototype testing documentation, 3) organizational
conflict of interest documentation, and 4) security documentation for contractor personnel working with prototype teams.
The CADE 2 Program Management Office has been vigilant in monitoring the
prototypes to provide direction and support to development activities. The prototype teams recognized the limits in
approaching some of the original objectives and made modifications to keep the
prototype activities relevant to future CADE 2 Program development. However, the ability of the CADE 2 Program to
process individual taxpayer accounts as envisioned cannot be determined until
the prototype results and recommendations are understood and implemented.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the Chief Technology Officer have the CADE 2
Program Management Office reemphasize compliance with the elements of the CADE 2
Prototype Process to ensure planning, execution, and reporting activities are
followed and incorporate guidance to include:
1) appropriately detailed work breakdown structures, 2) testing plans
and documentation standards that follow Internal Revenue Manual and Enterprise
Life Cycle guidance, 3) effective management of contracting activities to
ensure that issues concerning organizational conflict of interest are properly
managed, and 4) timely completion of all necessary security documentation for
contractor personnel.
In its response to the
report, the IRS agreed with TIGTA’s recommendations. The IRS plans to: 1) update the CADE 2 contracting guidelines, 2) embed Contracting
Officer’s Technical Representatives within the CADE 2 Program Management Office
to assist future prototype teams, 3) update the CADE 2 Program Management
Plan’s Prototype Process document, and 4) update the Prototype Lessons Learned
presentation to address TIGTA’s findings.
READ THE
FULL REPORT
To view the report,
including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go
to:
http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2011reports/201120001fr.html
Email Address: inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Phone
Number: 202-622-6500
Web Site: http://www.tigta.gov