Information Technology Modernization: Corporation for National and Community Service Needs to Develop a System That Supports Grant Monitoring
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Corporation for National and Community Service's (CNCS) information technology (IT) modernization projects are currently planned to align with the agency's business and management needs for its existing process, but are not yet defined for a future risk-based process. The projects include the development of a modernized system in two versions. The first version was planned to provide support for business needs of the agency's existing grant monitoring process. The second version is to provide additional functionality to support monitoring within a yet-to-be-defined risk-based process. CNCS officials and the development contractor responsible for delivering the first version of the system agreed to a set of requirements that address business needs for improving outcomes of the existing monitoring process. However, because business needs for a risk-based monitoring process have not been determined, OIT officials and system stakeholders have not defined requirements for the second version of the future system, as intended by CNCS's IT modernization plans.
CNCS has taken steps to help avoid continued delays, but progress toward delivering the system has been limited. In July 2015, CNCS initiated a project that was to deliver the first version of the system in April 2016. After subsequent delays, agency officials updated plans to reflect a September 2016 delivery. However, as of July 2017, this version had not been delivered, and the delivery date was changed to October 2017. Successful development and delivery of IT systems relies on adherance to key practices for managing project schedules and testing. However, weaknesses in CNCS's practices introduced risks to successful delivery of the system. In particular, the system development project schedules could not be used to track progress because they did not include actual dates when activities were started and finished. In addition, although CNCS and its contractor conducted testing according to plans, the grant monitoring system was not included in all phases of testing. Agency officials used other tools to track progress, and plans did not require them to conduct all stages of testing for the system. However, unless CNCS officials improve system development practices for managing project schedules and testing, they will continue to introduce risks to successful delivery of system functionality that supports grant monitoring.
The grant monitoring system development project experienced delays when CNCS did not initially conduct oversight needed to ensure that the contractor took corrective actions as planned. In monitoring the contractor's performance during system development and testing, agency officials enhanced oversight to avoid continued delays. In ongoing management reviews of the project, CNCS officials reported that, since the last corrective action plan was provided by the contractor in December 2016, performance has improved and the project is on track to deliver the first version of the grant monitoring system in October 2017.
However, successful delivery of system functionality that supports the agency's grant monitoring process will remain at risk unless CNCS takes steps to correct weaknesses in system development practices for managing project schedules and testing. Further, CNCS's grant monitoring officers will continue to rely on an outdated legacy system to support the processes they follow for monitoring the use of millions of dollars of grant funds awarded each year.
Why GAO Did This Study
CNCS engages more than five million Americans yearly in national volunteer service by awarding grants to programs such as AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. In fiscal year 2016, CNCS received almost $800 million in appropriations to fund approximately 2,300 grants. The agency is taking steps to modernize its outdated IT infrastructure, including developing and delivering systems to replace its legacy grant management system and improve IT support of the agency's grant monitoring program. In a March 2017 report, GAO noted system deficiencies that resulted in usability, data quality, and other technical issues.
This report examines (1) the extent to which CNCS's IT modernization projects align with business and management needs for grant monitoring and (2) progress CNCS has made toward ensuring the successful and timely delivery of new systems to support grant monitoring. GAO assessed agency planning and IT project management documents against key practices and conducted interviews with agency officials.
Recommendations
GAO is recommending three actions to improve CNCS's practices for defining requirements and developing schedules and test plans for grant monitoring system development. In comments on a draft of this report, CNCS did not fully agree with the recommendations. Based on additional documentation that CNCS provided, GAO revised the report, as appropriate, and modified the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| AmeriCorps | The Chief Executive Officer should direct the Chief Information Officer to take steps needed to ensure that system requirements are defined to align with the business needs of CNCS's future risk-based grants monitoring process (Recommendation 1). |
Closed – Implemented
In November 2018, CNCS officials stated that the agency made the decision to terminate the development of the Grants and Member Management (GMM) system. In 2020, CNCS was restructured and AmeriCorps subsumed CNCS responsibilities, including systems modernization efforts for grants management. As of April 2020, AmeriCorps defined a new risk-based grants monitoring process and began a new project for developing a grants management system. As part of their new effort, AmeriCorps developed system-level requirements in April 2020 based on user feedback for the agency's risk-based grants monitoring process. In addition, as of August 2021, AmeriCorps developed user stories, a type of system requirement, that mapped system-level requirements and user feedback requests for system functionality with the new risk-based grants monitoring process. By undertaking these efforts, AmeriCorps is better positioned to ensure that system requirements align with the business needs of the new risk-based grants monitoring process.
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| AmeriCorps | The Chief Executive Officer should direct the Chief Information Officer to ensure that the system development project schedule identifies in the baseline both planned and actual dates for completing all project-level activities, and can be used to monitor and measure progress of the grant monitoring system project (Recommendation 2). |
Closed – Implemented
As of June 2023, AmeriCorps developed a system development project schedule that included a timeline for the grant monitoring system project, and both planned and actual dates for completing project tasks. For example, the schedule timeline includes an actual completion date of November 2022 for issuing the grant monitoring system contract award, and a planned date of September 2024 for when the grant monitoring system will be fully adopted. In addition, the schedule includes an actual completion date of March 2023 for developing the project charter and a planned date of September 2023 for assigning an Information Systems Security Officer and completing the system's authority to operate milestone. By undertaking these efforts, AmeriCorps is better positioned to provide successful delivery of system functionality that is necessary to support grant monitoring.
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| AmeriCorps | The Chief Executive Officer should direct the Chief Information Officer to ensure that test plans are defined and implemented to include the second version of the grant monitoring system in all stages of testing during development, and results of initial stages are approved before conducting subsequent test stages (Recommendation 3). |
Closed – Implemented
In November 2018, CNCS officials stated that the agency made the decision to terminate the development of the Grants and Member Management (GMM) system. In September 2019, CNCS officials stated that they were developing a new shared services systems solution for grants management. In 2020, CNCS was restructured and AmeriCorps subsumed CNCS responsibilities, including systems modernization efforts for grants management. As part of this effort, AmeriCorps developed test plans that required the new grants management system to be tested at all stages during development in January 2020. For example, the test plans included instructions for the applications to be tested, testing criteria, and the names of individuals assigned to test the system. The plans also required the results of the initial stages to be reviewed and approved prior to conducting subsequent test stages. As of August 2021, AmeriCorps also provided a testing log that included issues identified during testing, the priority of the issue, and the status of any issues to be resolved. By developing test plans that include all stages of testing and implementing these plans, AmeriCorps is better positioned to ensure that problems arising during each stage of testing are corrected early to prevent development delays.
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