Information Management
The National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2007 Expenditure Plan Gao ID: GAO-07-987 July 27, 2007Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been working to acquire the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system. As required by law, the agency submitted its fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan to congressional appropriations committees, seeking the release of $23.4 million for the development of the system. GAO's objectives in reviewing the expenditure plan were to (1) determine the extent to which the expenditure plan satisfied the legislative conditions specified in the appropriations act; (2) determine the extent to which NARA has implemented GAO's prior recommendations; and (3) provide any other observations about the expenditure plan and the ERA acquisition. GAO reviewed the expenditure plan and analyzed it against the legislative conditions and assessed NARA's progress in addressing prior recommendations. In May 2007, GAO briefed staff of the Senate subcommittee and sent a copy of the briefing to the House and Senate subcommittee staffs.
As of May 2007, NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan fully satisfied five of the six legislative conditions and partially satisfied the remaining condition--that ERA conform to the agency's life cycle methodology. This methodology requires, among other things, that the agency develop an agencywide risk management plan. The agency developed this plan; however, it had not been approved by senior staff and signed by the Archivist of the United States. This plan was subsequently approved in July 2007. NARA implemented all prior GAO recommendations. The agency (1) established a baseline and target architecture, a plan to transition from the baseline to the target, and an architecture review board; (2) revised four of five key acquisition policies and plans to comply with appropriate standards; and (3) developed a fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan that contains an appropriate level and scope of information needed for the Congress to understand its plans and commitments relative to system capabilities, benefits, schedules, and costs. The ERA project experienced schedule delays and cost increases. According to NARA's analysis, the project was about 2 months behind schedule as of May 2007. In addition, the contractor projected the estimated cost at completion of the initial operating capability (IOC) to be about $570,000 over budget. Factors contributing to the delays included low productivity of contractor software programmers, difficulties in securing an acceptable contract to prepare the site that is to house the system, and problems with software integration. Although the contractor took actions to address the factors causing these delays and overruns, NARA concluded that the project schedule should be revised so that only limited functionality would be available by the initial operating capability date of September 7, 2007. Subsequent to the GAO briefing, NARA officials and the contractor reported that the project had experienced additional delays and overruns. Thus, as of July 2007, the estimated date for completion of the IOC is delayed to March 31, 2008. NARA officials and the contractor project the estimated cost at completion the initial operating capability to be between $8 and $12 million over budget. They are also in the process of negotiating additional mitigating actions needed and changes to the project's cost and schedule.
GAO-07-987, Information Management: The National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2007 Expenditure Plan
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Report to Congressional Committees:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
Information Management:
The National Archives and Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2007
Expenditure Plan:
GAO-07-897:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-07-987, a report to congressional committees
Why GAO Did This Study:
Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has
been working to acquire the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system.
As required by law, the agency submitted its fiscal year 2007
expenditure plan to congressional appropriations committees, seeking
the release of $23.4 million for the development of the system.
GAO‘s objectives in reviewing the expenditure plan were to (1)
determine the extent to which the expenditure plan satisfied the
legislative conditions specified in the appropriations act; (2)
determine the extent to which NARA has implemented GAO‘s prior
recommendations; and (3) provide any other observations about the
expenditure plan and the ERA acquisition. GAO reviewed the expenditure
plan and analyzed it against the legislative conditions and assessed
NARA‘s progress in addressing prior recommendations.
In May 2007, GAO briefed staff of the Senate subcommittee and sent a
copy of the briefing to the House and Senate subcommittee staffs.
What GAO Found:
As of May 2007, NARA‘s fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan fully
satisfied five of the six legislative conditions and partially
satisfied the remaining condition”that ERA conform to the agency‘s life
cycle methodology. This methodology requires, among other things, that
the agency develop an agencywide risk management plan. The agency
developed this plan; however, it had not been approved by senior staff
and signed by the Archivist of the United States. This plan was
subsequently approved in July 2007.
NARA implemented all prior GAO recommendations. The agency (1)
established a baseline and target architecture, a plan to transition
from the baseline to the target, and an architecture review board; (2)
revised four of five key acquisition policies and plans to comply with
appropriate standards; and (3) developed a fiscal year 2007 expenditure
plan that contains an appropriate level and scope of information needed
for the Congress to understand its plans and commitments relative to
system capabilities, benefits, schedules, and costs.
The ERA project experienced schedule delays and cost increases.
According to NARA‘s analysis, the project was about 2 months behind
schedule as of May 2007. In addition, the contractor projected the
estimated cost at completion of the initial operating capability (IOC)
to be about $570,000 over budget. Factors contributing to the delays
included low productivity of contractor software programmers,
difficulties in securing an acceptable contract to prepare the site
that is to house the system, and problems with software integration.
Although the contractor took actions to address the factors causing
these delays and overruns, NARA concluded that the project schedule
should be revised so that only limited functionality would be available
by the initial operating capability date of September 7, 2007.
Subsequent to the GAO briefing, NARA officials and the contractor
reported that the project had experienced additional delays and
overruns. Thus, as of July 2007, the estimated date for completion of
the IOC is delayed to March 31, 2008. NARA officials and the contractor
project the estimated cost at completion the initial operating
capability to be between $8 and $12 million over budget. They are also
in the process of negotiating additional mitigating actions needed and
changes to the project‘s cost and schedule.
What GAO Recommends:
At this time, GAO is making no recommendations. However, continued
agency attention will be important to help ensure the success of the
project. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Archivist
provided an update concerning the ERA cost and schedule.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-987].
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact Linda Koontz at (202) 512-
6240 or koontzl@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Appendixes:
Appendix I: Briefing Slides:
Appendix I: Comments from the National Archives:
Appendix II: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:
Abbreviations:
ERA: Electronic Records Archives:
FOIA: Freedom of Information Act:
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.:
IOC: Initial Operating Capability:
IT: information technology:
NARA: National Archives and Records Administration:
OMB: Office of Management and Budget:
SA-CMM: Software Acquisition-Capability Maturity Model:
SEI: Software Engineering Institute:
SOC: Systems Operations Center:
July 27, 2007:
The Honorable Richard J. Durbin:
Chairman:
The Honorable Sam Brownback:
Ranking Minority Member:
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
The Honorable José E. Serrano:
Chairman:
The Honorable Ralph Regula:
Ranking Minority Member:
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government:
Committee on Appropriations:
House of Representatives:
As required by law, the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) submitted its fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan in March 2007 to
congressional appropriations committees, seeking the release of $23.4
million for the Electronic Records Archives (ERA). ERA is a major
information system that is intended to preserve and provide access to
massive volumes and formats of electronic records. ERA is to automate
NARA's records management and archiving life cycle, and is to consist
of:
* infrastructure elements, including hardware and operating systems;
* business applications that will support the transfer, preservation,
dissemination, and management of all types of records and the
preservation of and online access to electronic records; and:
* a means for public access via the Internet.
The system is to be deployed in five separate increments. Increment 1
(known as the initial operating capability) consists of two releases
that are scheduled to be completed by September 7, 2007.
Our objectives in reviewing the plan were to (1) determine whether the
plan satisfied the conditions specified in the law,[Footnote 1] (2)
determine the extent to which NARA has implemented our prior
recommendations, and (3) provide any other observations about the
expenditure plan and the ERA acquisition.
In May 2007, we transmitted a copy of our briefing to your staffs and
briefed staff from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial
Services and General Government on the results of our review. This
report transmits the materials used at that briefing. The full briefing
materials, including our scope and methodology, are reprinted as
appendix I. In summary, we made the following major points:
* As of May 2007, NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan satisfied
five of the six legislative conditions, and partially satisfied the
remaining condition--that ERA conform to the agency's life cycle
methodology. The methodology requires, among other things, that the
agency develop an agencywide risk management plan. The agency developed
this plan; however, the plan had not yet been approved by NARA's senior
staff and signed by the Archivist of the United States. (This plan was
subsequently approved in July 2007.)
* NARA had implemented all prior GAO recommendations. The agency (1)
completed a baseline and target architecture, completed a plan for
transitioning from the baseline to the target architecture, and
established an architecture review board to ensure the use of NARA's
enterprise architecture across the agency; (2) revised four of five key
acquisition policies and plans to comply with the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards (as of July 2006,
the remaining plan--the ERA Risk Management Plan--was revised to comply
with IEEE standards); and (3) developed a fiscal year 2007 expenditure
plan that contains an appropriate level and scope of information needed
for the Congress to understand its plans and commitments relative to
system capabilities, benefits, schedules, and costs.
* The ERA project experienced schedule delays and cost increases.
According to analysis performed by NARA, the project was about 2 months
behind schedule as of May 2007. In addition, the contractor projected
an estimated cost at completion that was about $570,000 over budget.
Factors contributing to the delays included low productivity of
contractor software programmers, difficulties in securing an acceptable
contract to prepare the site that is to house the system, and problems
with software integration. Although the contractor took actions to
address these factors, NARA concluded that the project schedule should
be revised so that only release 1 and limited functionality from
release 2 would be completed by the initial operating capability date
of September 7, 2007.[Footnote 2] The remainder of release 2--
originally scheduled for delivery on September 7--would be delayed
until November 6, 2007.
After we briefed your staff, NARA and contractor officials reported
that the project had experienced additional delays and overruns. Thus,
as of July 2007:
* The estimated date for completion of initial operating capability
(IOC) is delayed from November 6, 2007, to March 31, 2008. According to
NARA, the contractor will (1) begin incremental delivery of three IOC
software releases on September 28, 2007, and (2) complete the IOC on
March 31, 2008.
* NARA and the contractor project the estimated cost at completion of
the IOC to be between $8 million and $12 million over budget.
* NARA and the contractor are in the process of negotiating additional
mitigating actions needed and changes to the project‘s cost and
schedule.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
In written comments on a draft of this report, the Archivist of the
United States stated that he was pleased to note our recognition of the
progress that NARA has made toward implementing our recommendations.
These comments are reproduced in appendix II.
The Archivist also provided an update of the efforts concerning ERA
acquisition cost and schedule. In addressing the ERA schedule, the
Archivist noted that the contractor planned to begin incremental
delivery, on September 28, 2007, of functionality leading to an initial
operating capability that would include release 1 and limited
functionality from release 2. He also noted that the contractor would
deliver the remainder of release 2 functionality in the second-quarter
of fiscal year 2008. Regarding cost, the Archivist stated that the
estimated cost of the project on September 28, 2007, would be about
$2.6 million over budget. (However, in subsequent discussions, the
Chief Information Officer stated that the estimated cost overrun of the
ERA development has risen from about $2.6 million to between $8 million
and $12 million.)
The Archivist also clarified that one of the factors that contributed
to schedule delays”the preparation of the ERA site”was a government
responsibility, and that the site preparation delays had little impact
on the overall delays for the development of the ERA system. He also
provided a technical comment, which we addressed in this report as
appropriate.
We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional
committees and to the Archivist of the United States. We will make
copies available to others on request. In addition, the report will be
available at no charge on the GAO Web site at [hyperlink,
http://www/gao.gov].
If you or your staffs have any questions concerning this report, please
call me at 202-512-6240; I can also be reached by e-mail at
koontzl@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional
Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this
report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are
listed in appendix III.
Signed by:
Linda D. Koontz:
Director, Information Management Issues:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Briefing Slides:
Government Accountability Office:
Accountability: Integrity: Reliability:
National Archives and Records Administration's Acquisition of
Electronic Records Archives:
Briefing for Staff Members of the:
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government:
Senate Committee on Appropriations:
and the:
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government:
House Committee on Appropriations:
May 25, 2007:
Outline of Briefing:
Introduction:
Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Results in Brief:
Background:
ERA System:
ERA Schedule, Cost, and Performance in Fiscal Year 2006:
ERA Expenditure Plan:
Legislative Conditions:
Implementation of Prior Recommendations:
Enterprise Architecture:
Acquisition Policies and Plans:
Expenditure Plan:
Observations on the ERA Expenditure Plan:
Agency Comments:
Attachment 1. Comments from the National Archives and Records
Administration:
Introduction:
The mission of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
is to ensure ready access to government records for the public, the
President, Congress, and the courts. NARA is responsible for oversight
of records management and archiving, which increasingly involves
dealing with documents that are created and stored electronically. To
address critical issues in the creation, management, and use of federal
electronic records, the Archivist of the United States plans to develop
a major information system” the Electronic Records Archives (ERA)”that
will have the ability to preserve and provide access to massive volumes
of all types and formats of electronic records. ERA is to automate
NARA's records management and archiving life cycle, and is to consist
of:
infrastructure elements, including hardware and operating systems;
business applications that will support the transfer, preservation,
dissemination, and management of all types of records and the
preservation of and online access to electronic records; and a means
for public access via the Internet.
In 2001, the agency hired a contractor to develop policies and plans
using the standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) to guide the overall acquisition of an
electronic records system.
In December 2003, the agency released a request for proposals for the
design of ERA. In August 2004, NARA awarded two firm fixed-price
contracts for the design phase totaling about $20 million”one to Harris
Corporation and the other to Lockheed Martin Corporation. On September
8, 2005, NARA announced the selection of Lockheed Martin Corporation to
build the ERA system. In fiscal year 2006, NARA selected the Alleghany
Ballistics Laboratory at Rocket Center, West Virginia, as the site for
the ERA system. Since that time, the agency has continued work on the
initial version of the ERA system to be operational in September 2007.
As mandated by NARA's fiscal year 2006 appropriations act, 1: the
authority and conditions of which continue into fiscal year 2007, 2:
NARA is required to submit an expenditure plan before obligating the
fiscal year 2007 funds for the ERA program. As in the previous year,
the plan must satisfy the following legislative conditions:
meet the capital planning and investment control review requirements
established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), including
Circular A-11;
comply with the agency's enterprise architecture;
1: Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the
Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-115, 119 Stat.
2396, 2486 (Nov. 30, 2005)
2: Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal Year 2007,
Pub. L. No. 110-5, § 2, 121 Stat. 9 (Feb. 15, 2007).
conform with the agency's enterprise life cycle methodology;
comply with the acquisition rules, requirements, guidelines, and system
acquisition management practices of the federal government;
be approved by the agency and OMB; and:
be reviewed by GAO.
On March 13, 2007, the agency submitted its 2007 expenditure plan to
the relevant House and Senate appropriations subcommittees, seeking
release of $23.4 million for the ERA program. 3: The subcommittees
released these funds in April 2007 after review of the expenditure plan.
3: ERA funding available during fiscal year 2007 totaled $53.2 million.
Of this amount, $29.9 million had already been released to the program.
This amount included $13.6 million in one-year funds and $16.3 million
in multi-year funds.
Since June 2002, we have completed several reports assessing NARA's
efforts to acquire the ERA system. 4: The reports made a total of 11
recommendations. At the beginning of our review, eight of the
recommendations had been implemented; the following remain to be
addressed:
Develop an enterprise architecture.
Revise five key ERA program policies and plans to conform to IEEE
standards.
Ensure that future expenditure plans include a sufficient level and
scope of information so that Congress will be able to understand what
system capabilities and benefits are to be delivered, by when, and at
what cost, and what progress is being made against the commitments that
were made in prior expenditure plans.
4: GAO, Information Management: Challenges in Managing and Preserving
Electronic Records, GAO-02-586 (Washington, D.C.: June 17, 2002);
Records Management: National Archives and Records Administration's
Acquisition of Major System Faces Risks,GAO-03- 880 (Washington, D.C.:
Aug. 22, 2003); Records Management: Planning for the Electronic Records
Archives Has Improved, GAO-04- 927 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 23, 2004);
Information Management: Acquisition of the Electronic Records Archives
is Progressing, GAO-05-802 (Washington, D.C.: July 15, 2005); and
Electronic Records Archives: The National Archives and Records
Administration's Fiscal Year 2006 Expenditure Plan, GAO-06-906
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 18, 2006).
Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
As agreed, our objectives were to:
determine the extent to which the agency's fiscal year 2007 expenditure
plan satisfies the legislative conditions specified in NARA's
appropriations act,:
determine the extent to which the agency has implemented our prior
recommendations, and:
provide any other observations about the expenditure plan and the ERA
acquisition. To assess compliance with legislative conditions, we:
reviewed the fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan submitted by the agency
in March 2007 and analyzed the plan to identify any variance from the
legislative conditions;
obtained and reviewed the agency's enterprise architecture plans to
determine the status of the agency's efforts to develop an enterprise
architecture and architecture review board;
reviewed the systems development life cycle policy that the agency is
using to guide the ERA acquisition and relevant items for compliance;
and:
reviewed NARA's fiscal year 2007 exhibit 300 submissions 5: to OMB to
determine the extent to which the agency has complied with OMB's
capital planning and investment control requirements.
To determine the extent to which the agency has implemented prior
recommendations, we:
obtained and reviewed the agency's enterprise architecture plans to
determine the status of the agency's efforts to develop an enterprise
architecture and architecture review board;
reviewed key ERA plans and independent verification and validation
reports to determine what progress the program had made in addressing
our recommendation that policies and plans conform to industry
standards; and:
reviewed and analyzed the current expenditure plan to determine whether
it contained a sufficient level and scope of information on system
capabilities and benefits to be acquired.
5: Agencies develop an exhibit 300, also known as the Capital Asset
Plan and Business Case, to justify each request for a major information
technology (IT) investment. OMB sets forth requirements for the exhibit
300 in Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the
Budget, Part 7.
To assess the ERA expenditure plan and acquisition, we:
analyzed the completeness of the cost and schedule information
contained in the expenditure plan and interviewed agency and program
officials in order to gain an understanding of the ERA program and:
reviewed Lockheed Martin monthly status reports and risk analysis
reports, and also interviewed Lockheed Martin program officials in
order to gain an understanding of the contractor's program management,
ERA schedule, and related data.
We performed our work from December 2006 to May 2007 at NARA's College
Park, Maryland, location in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
Results in Brief:
Legislative Conditions:
NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan satisfies five of the six
legislative conditions, and partially satisfies the remaining
condition”that ERA conform to the agency's life cycle methodology. The
methodology requires, among other things, that the agency develop an
agencywide risk management plan. The agency developed this plan;
however, it has not yet been approved by NARA's senior staff and signed
by the Archivist of the United States. To fully satisfy this condition,
the agency plans to approve this plan by June 2007.
Prior Recommendations:
NARA has implemented all prior GAO recommendations.
Table 1: Summary Status of NARA's Progress in Implementing Prior
Recommendations:
Prior recommendation: Enterprise architecture;
Status: Implemented;
Progress: NARA has completed a baseline and target architecture, and a
plan for transitioning from the baseline to the target architecture.
The agency has established an architecture review board to ensure that
the use of NARA's enterprise architecture across the agency;
Prior recommendation: Acquisition policies and plans;
Status: Implemented;
Progress: NARA had revised four of five key acquisitions and plans to
comply with IEEE standards. As of July 2006, the remaining plan-the ERA
Risk Management Plan-was revised to comply with IEEE standards.
Prior recommendation: Expenditure plan;
Status: Implemented;
Progress: NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan contains an
appropriate level and scope of information needed for the Congress to
understand its plans and commitments relative to system capabilities,
benefits, schedules, and costs.
Source: GAO analysis of NARA data.
[End of table]
Observations on the ERA Expenditure Plan and Program:
The ERA project has experienced schedule delays and cost increases.
According to analysis performed by the agency, the project is now about
2 months behind schedule. The contractor has projected an estimated
cost at completion of about $570,000 over budget. Factors contributing
to the delays include low productivity of contractor software
programmers, difficulties in securing an acceptable contract to prepare
the site that is to house the system, and problems with software
integration. Although the contractor has taken actions to address the
factors causing these delays and overruns, NARA has concluded that the
project schedule should be revised so that only Release 1 and limited
functionality from Release 2 will be completed on the initial operating
capability date of September 7, 2007. The remainder of Release 2 would
then be scheduled for November 6, 2007. Continued agency attention will
be critically important to help ensure that the system development
effort does not incur additional schedule delays or cost overruns.
In written comments on a draft of these slides (reproduced in
attachment 1), the Archivist of the United States noted that we
recognized NARA's progress towards implementing our recommendations and
that our observation provided insight into the expenditure plan and
acquisition schedule. He also provided technical comments, which we
incorporated as appropriate.
Background:
ERA System:
Since 2001, NARA has been working to acquire the ERA system”a major
information system that is intended to be used to acquire, secure,
provide access to, and preserve most electronic records, free from
dependence on any specific hardware or software.
The ERA system will consist of six major components, each of which
supports a specific business area.
Ingest enables transfer of electronic records from federal agencies.
Managed Storage enables stored records to be managed in a way that
guarantees their integrity and availability.
Dissemination enables users to search descriptions and business data
about all types of records, and to search the content of electronic
records and retrieve them.
Records Management supports scheduling, 6: appraisal, 7: description,
and requests to transfer custody of all types of records, as well as
ingesting and managing electronic records, including the capture of
selected records data (such as origination date, format, and
disposition).
6: A record schedule is a document that describes agency records,
establishes a period for their retention by the agency, and provides
mandatory instructions for what to do with them when they are no longer
needed for current government business.
7: Records appraisal is the process of determining the value and the
final disposition of records, making them either temporary or permanent.
Preservation enables secure and reliable storage of files in formats in
which they were received, as well as creating backup copies for offsite
storage.
Local Services & Control regulates how the ERA components communicate
with each other, manages internal security, and enables
telecommunications and system network management.
Figure 1 shows the ERA system business concept, indicating how the six
major components interact.
Figure 1: Overview of ERA Business Concept:
[See PDF for image]
Source: NARA data.
[End of figure]
The ERA program is using an acquisition and implementation approach in
which the system will be deployed in five separate increments:
Increment 1 will be deployed in three releases. Increment 1, releases 1
and 2,” known as the Initial Operating Capability (IOC)”is expected to
be completed by September 2007. Release 1 of Increment 1 is to
establish the foundation for the ERA system”the hardware, software, and
communications needed to deploy the system. Release 2 is to enable
online transfer of electronic records to NARA, annual transfers of
records, and secure storage of electronic records in original formats.
With increment 1, the system is to handle both unclassified and
sensitive records. Release 3, scheduled to be operational in June 2008,
is to add support for records scheduling and appraisal.
Increment 2 is to provide additional capabilities such as content
searching, responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests,
and preservation planning. 8: It is also to handle classified data.
Increment 3 is to provide public access.
Increments 4 and 5 are to provide additional preservation capability
and storage.
8: Preservation planning is an ERA function that will help ensure that
researchers have continued reliable access to records over time,
regardless of the complexity or format of the records.
Figure 2 on the next slide shows the incremental timetable for
deploying ERA and the functionality planned for each increment.
According to NARA, the planning and design for each increment are to
start before acceptance of the previous increment. The beginning dates
of the planning and design phases for increments 2-5 are not shown, as
these depend on the progress of previous increments.
Figure 2: ERA Acquisition Approach:
[See PDF for image]
Source: GAO analysis of NARA data.
[End of figure]
Background:
ERA Schedule, Cost, and Performance in Fiscal Year 2006.
NARA generally met its scheduled milestones for fiscal year 2006. In
particular, it produced several required acquisition plans”a
Configuration Management Plan, a Program Management Plan, and a Risk
Management Plan. The agency also completed key reviews required for the
development life cycle of the system, such as the Critical Design
Review for Increment 1, Release 1.
NARA also reassessed the ERA schedule and delayed the development and
delivery of certain functions in the system. According to NARA, the
agency reassessed the schedule because the costs of addressing the
original system requirements exceeded the expected resources.
As a result of the new schedule, functionality was shifted to future
increments. Increment 1”which was to have delivered an initial
operating capability accessible by the public, businesses, and federal
agencies, and include functionality such as the ability to find and
present records, identify and redact sensitive records, and process
classified records” will now provide a more basic system to be used by
NARA and other federal agencies, and will process only unclassified and
sensitive data.
The tables below show the amount obligated for ERA in fiscal year 2006
as well as the reported spending from the program's inception to the
end of fiscal year 2006.
Table 2: Summary of Fiscal Year 2006 ERA Obligations Project category:
Project Category: Program management;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 8,148,019 ;
Project Category: Research and development;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 3,526,755;
Project Category: Site preparation;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 2,569,036;
Project Category: Development contract-Lockheed Martin;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 17,000,000;
Project Category: Independent verification and validation;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 1,549,908;
Project category: Total;
Fiscal year 2006 obligations Program management: 32,793,718.
Source: GAO analysis of NARA data.
[End of figure]
In the fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan, NARA was seeking the release
of $23.4 million for ERA. The agency could not obligate these funds
until Congress reviewed and approved the expenditure plan. Congress
released these funds in April 2007 after review of the expenditure plan.
NARA's estimated ERA obligations for fiscal year 2007 are $53.3
million. Table 4 below shows how it plans to distribute the money
across the ERA program.
Background:
ERA 2007 Expenditure Plan:
Table 4: Summary of NARA's Fiscal Year 2007 Estimated Obligations for
ERA ERA 2007 Expenditure Plan Project category:
Project category: Program management;
Description: Salaries and benefits, supplies, equipment, and
telecommunications;
Estimated obligations: $8,547,985;
Project category: Research and development;
Description: Research performed with other agencies;
Estimated obligations: 3,799,136;
Project category: Security;
Description: Security clearances and testing;
Estimated obligations: 170,000;
Project category: Site development;
Description: Interagency agreements for Rocket Center and other
facilities;
Estimated obligations: 3,007,487;
Project category: Development contract;
Description: Activities performed under the ERA system acquisition
contract with Lockheed Martin;
Estimated obligations: 32,861;
Project category: Independent verification and validation: 9;
Description: Verification and validation activities;
Estimated obligations: 1,569,002;
Project category: Program Office Support Team;
Description: Labor, contracts, and materials to support the ERA program
management;
Estimated obligations: 3,000,000.
Project category: Total;
Description: [Empty];
Estimated obligations: $52,261,610.
Source: GAO analysis of NARA data.
[End of figure]
9: NARA contracted with Northrop Grumman to perform independent
verification and validation on policies and plans produced by the ERA
program and contractual deliverables produced by Lockheed Martin.
Legislative Conditions:
As shown in the table, NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan
satisfies five of the six legislative conditions and partially
satisfies the remaining condition that the expenditure plan must
conform to the agency's enterprise life cycle methodology.
Table 5: Status of Legislative Conditions:
Legislative condition: Meet OMB capital planning investment control
review requirements;
Status: Satisfied;
Progress: NARA met OMB's capital planning and investment control review
requirements for the ERA acquisition. It identified funding required
for acquiring ERA and conducts regular reviews of the program. NARA has
also implemented a policy and process for bi-annual reviews of ongoing
information technology (IT) investments, including interdependencies
with ERA through an agencywide capital planning and investment control
process and quarterly investment;
Legislative condition: Comply with NARA's enterprise architecture;
Status: Satisfied;
Progress: NARA has developed and implemented a procedure to ensure that
ERA complies with the agency's enterprise architecture. NARA has also
established an Enterprise Architecture Review Board to assess IT
projects agencywide, including those that have interdependencies with
ERA, to ensure they conform to the enterprise architecture;
Legislative condition: Comply with acquisition, rules, requirements,
guidelines, and system acquisition management practices of the federal
government;
Status: Satisfied;
Progress: NARA satisfied this provision by (1) conducting internal
assessments in 2002 and 2004 that used the Software Engineering
Institute's (SEI) 10: SA-CMM 11: methods to determine the maturity of
ERA's system policies, processes, and practices; and (2) implementing a
process to address the assessment's recommendations;
Legislative condition: Conform to NARA's enterprise life cycle
methodology;
Status: Partially satisfied;
Progress: ERA generally conforms to the life cycle methodology.
However, NARA has not yet fully established an agencywide risk
management capability, as required by the life cycle methodology. The
developed this plan; however, it has not yet been approved by NARA's
senior staff and signed by the Archivist of the United States. To fully
satisfy this condition, the agency plans to approve the plan by June
2007;
Legislative condition: Approval;
Status: Satisfied;
Progress: This plan was reviewed and approved by NARA and OMB in
December 2006. The final version of the plan reflects actual
appropriations under the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution,
2007;
Legislative condition: Reviewed by GAO;
Status: Satisfied;
Progress: GAO finished reviewing the plan in May 2007.
10: SEI is a federally funded research and development center operated
by Carnegie Mellon University and sponsored by the Department of
Defense. Its objective is to provide in software engineering and in
the transition of new software engineering technology info practice.
11: Software Acquisition-Capability Maturity Model (SA-CMM): Identifies
key process areas that are essential to effectively managing software-
intensive system acquisition.
Implementation of Prior Recommendations:
Enterprise Architecture:
In our August 2006 report,12: we noted that NARA had partially
implemented our 2002 recommendations”establishing a baseline and target
architecture, and a plan for transitioning from the baseline to the
target architecture”but had not established a board for reviewing IT
projects agencywide, including projects that are interdependent with
ERA. In December 2006, the agency established an architecture review
board to maintain, update, and ensure use of the agency's enterprise
architecture across the organization. The board held its first meeting
in January 2007. By establishing the architecture review board, the
agency increased assurance that projects are consistent with NARA's
architecture.
12: GAO, Electronic Records Archives: The National Archives and Records
Administration's Fiscal Year 2006 Expenditure Plan, GAO- 06-906
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 18, 2006).
Implementation of Prior Recommendations: Acquisition Policies and
Plans:
We previously reported that ERA had developed four of five key policies
and plans to guide its acquisition, and that one remaining document”the
ERA Risk Management Plan”did not fully conform to the IEEE standards
selected by the agency. In response to our recommendation, NARA has
revised the ERA Risk Management Plan to comply with IEEE standards.
This plan was completed in July 2006. By revising the plan to conform
to these standards, the agency has strengthened the guidance it needs
to acquire the system.
Implementation of Prior Recommendations:
Expenditure Plan:
In our August 2006 report,13: we recommended that NARA ensure that
future expenditure plans include information of a sufficient level and
scope to allow the Congress to understand what system capabilities and
benefits are to be delivered, by when, and at what cost, and what
progress is being made relative to commitments that were made in prior
expenditure plans.
NARA's fiscal year 2007 expenditure plan contains an appropriate level
and scope of information needed for the Congress to understand agency
plans and commitments relative to ERA system capabilities, benefits,
schedules, and costs. For example, the plan now includes a detailed
work breakdown schedule that describes the planned and actual
completion dates for deliverables or major tasks, the percentage of
work complete, and estimated and actual costs. The plan also includes a
description of functionality, such as the capability to transfer and
accept electronic records.
13: GAO, Electronic Records Archives: The National Archives and Records
Administration's Fiscal Year 2006 Expenditure Plan, GAO- 06-906
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 18, 2006).
Observation on the ERA Expenditure Plan and Acquisition:
Schedule:
NARA established September 7, 2007, as the date by which the ERA system
would achieve initial operating capability, including Releases 1 and 2.
According to NARA officials, achieving this critical milestone is one
of the most important challenges facing the agency and the ERA project.
Meeting this milestone would require that Lockheed Martin complete the
development of the system, including resolving all software problems
that Lockheed identified during earlier software testing, before NARA
would begin scheduled acceptance testing: 14 on July 27, 2007.
However, the project has experienced schedule delays and cost
increases. According to analysis performed by the agency, the project
is now about 2 months behind schedule. The contractor has projected an
estimated cost at completion of about $570,000 over budget. Lockheed
Martin officials have proposed that, despite the delays, the project
can meet the initial operating capability date if the agency agrees to
begin acceptance testing before Lockheed completes the initial testing
of the Release 2 software and resolves any problems identified.
According to the ERA program manager, the agency plans to reject this
proposal because of the potentially high risk to the agency.
14: Acceptance testing is performed by the customer on a system before
the customer accepts delivery or accepts transfer of ownership of that
system.
Factors contributing to the schedule delays include low contractor
productivity, difficulties in securing an acceptable contract to
prepare the site that is to house the system, and problems integrating
commercial off-the-shelf software with the system:
Low productivity of the contractor's software programmers was a
significant factor contributing to schedule delays. According to
program officials, this low productivity stemmed from Lockheed not
having enough staff, the inability of staff to work well together, and
a tight schedule to complete the project. To address this issue,
Lockheed replaced several programmers with a more experienced software
development staff.
NARA's original plans for the Rocket Center facility included
installing a new cooling system and power supply. Due to a contractual
issue, the Rocket Center site preparation has been delayed about a
month. Specifically, the agency received only one response to its
request for proposals for work on the Rocket Center; because this bid
was about $300,000 more than estimated costs, the agency decided not to
award the contract at that time. The agency currently plans to install
a temporary cooling system and power supply at the facility. It has
scheduled the site to be available May 30, 2007, and plans to issue a
new request for proposal for the installation of a permanent cooling
system and power supply.
According to Lockheed Martin, the integration of a commercial off-the-
shelf product with the ERA system was more time-consuming than
anticipated. Agency officials stated that Lockheed experienced problems
with the way the software interacted with ERA. After discovering the
problem, Lockheed decided to use different commercial off-the-shelf
software and to enlist that software's vendor to help with the
integration. Agency officials stated that these actions should be
adequate to resolve the issue, which had a relatively minor impact on
the schedule.
As a result of the delays, NARA has concluded that the ERA schedule
should be revised so that only Release 1 and limited functionality from
Release 2 will be completed on the initial operating capability date of
September 7, 2007. The remainder of Release 2 would then be scheduled
for November 6, 2007 (see table 6 on the following page).
The agency is negotiating with Lockheed about the need to revise the
initial operating capability deployment schedule and the functionality
from Increment 1, Release 2, that will be included in the initial
operating capability. It expects to have a revised deployment schedule
finalized by May 2007.
Table 6: Revised ERA Schedule of Planned Activities
Milestone: Increment 1, Releases 1 and 2 system development;
Original completion date: November 24, 2006;
Revised completion date: November 29, 2006;
Milestone: ;
Original completion date: ;
Revised completion date: ;
Milestone: Site preparation;
Original completion date: April 30, 2007 ;
Revised completion date: May 21, 2007;
Milestone: Increment 1, Release 1 system acceptance testing;
Original completion date: August 20, 2007;
Revised completion date: August 20, 2000;
Milestone: Increment 1 Release 1 certification and accreditation of
initial system;
Original completion date: September 6, 2007;
Revised completion date: September 7, 2007;
Milestone: Initial Operating Capability (Increment 1 Release 1,limited
functionality from Release 2);
Original completion date: September 7, 2007;
Revised completion date: September 7, 2007;
Milestone: Increment 1 Release 2 system acceptance testing;
Original completion date: September 7, 2007;
Revised completion date: September 24, 2007;
Milestone: Increment 1 Release 2 certification and accreditation;
Original completion date: September 7, 2007;
Revised completion date: October 12, 2000;
Milestone: Initial Operating Capability (Increment 1 Release 2);
Original completion date: September 7, 2007;
Revised completion date: November 6, 2007.
Source: GAO analysis of NARA data.
[End of table]
Agency Comments:
In written comments on a draft of these slides, the Archivist of the
United States stated that he was pleased to note our recognition of the
progress that NARA has made towards implementing our recommendations.
He also stated that he appreciated the insight into the expenditure
plan and acquisition schedule that was provided by our observation, and
he provided an update on the status of the efforts related to the
acquisition schedule. He also provided technical comments, which we
incorporated as appropriate.
The Archivist's comments are reproduced in attachment 1.
[End of section]
Appendix I: Comments from the National Archives and Records
Administration:
National Archives and Records Administration:
8601 Adelphi Road:
College Park, Maryland 20740-6001:
May 18, 2007:
Government Accountability Office:
Director of Information Management Issues:
Ms. Linda Koontz:
441 G Street, NW:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Ms. Koontz:
We thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the draft
presentation entitled National Archives and Records Administration 's
Acquisition of the Electronic Records Archives before it is briefed to
the staff members of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General
Government, Senate Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on
Financial Services and General Government, House Appropriations
Committee. We are pleased to note the recognition of the progress made
towards implementing the recommendations provided in GAO's report of
August 18, 2006, Electronic Records Archives: The National Archives and
Records Administration 's Fiscal Year 2006 Expenditure Plan (GAO-06-
906).
We also appreciate the insight into the Expenditure Plan and
Acquisition Schedule observations addressed in GAO's presentation. We
would like to take this opportunity to update you on the status of the
efforts related to your observations. NARA is still negotiating with
Lockheed Martin regarding the deployment schedule for the initial
operating capability. However, NARA has decided that instead of
delaying the delivery of initial operating capability, it will reduce
the functionality that the contractor will be required to deliver in
September 7, 2007. Initial operating capability will consist of
Increment 1, Release 1 and limited functionality from Increment 1,
Release 2. The remainder of Increment 1, Release 2 would then be
scheduled for November, 2007. Discussions continue with Lockheed Martin
regarding the limited functionality from Increment 1, Release 2 that
will be included in the initial operating capability.
Finally, we would like to clarify a few points from the presentation.
* On page 3, the second bullet should be revised to read "business
applications that will support the transfer, dissemination and
management of all types of records and the preservation of and online
access to electronic records."
* On page 6, the wording "the following remain to be addressed:" gives
the impression that these three recommendations have not been
addressed.
* On page 10 and 22, the Risk Management Plan will be approved by
NARA's Senior Staff and signed by the Archivist of the United States.
* On page 12, NARA has not decided to "delay the delivery of initial
operating capability." Rather we have decided to reduce the
functionality that the contractor needs to deliver in September, with
the remaining functionality to be implemented subsequently. That will
enable the contractor to resolve problems in development while still
enabling NARA to begin making productive use of the system in
September.
* On page 13, the Dissemination bullet should be revised to read
"enables users to search descriptions and business data about all types
of records, and to search the content of electronic records and
retrieve them." The Records Management bullet should be changed to
"supports scheduling, appraisal, description, and requests to transfer
custody of all types of records, as well as ingesting and." The
Preservation bullet should be changed to "enables NARA to overcome
technology obsolescence of electronic records by implementing a variety
of tools to analyze and transform the records so that they remain
accessible."
* On page 15, the first bullet should also mention that Release 3,
scheduled for FY2008 will add support for records scheduling and
appraisal.
* On page 16, the Acquisition Approach chart should show the overlap of
Increments. Planning and design of each Increment starts prior to
acceptance of the previous increment. In the case of Increment 1,
Release 2 and 3 will overlap with Increment 2. Also, in the Increment 1
column there is no mention of release 3; in the Increment 2 column, the
first line should be "search and presentation"; in the Increment 3
column, "arrangements" should be on a separate line, it is not related
to redaction, but to ensure that records that belong together, such as
in a personnel folder, can be reliably retrieved together.
* On page 28, the second paragraph should be revised to "As a result of
the delays, NARA has concluded that the ERA schedule should be revised
so that only Release 1 and limited functionality from Release 2 will
occur on the initial operating capability date of September 7, 2007.
The remainder of Release 2 would then be scheduled for November,
2007...."
Again, we thank you for this opportunity and look forward to our future
interactions as we continue the ERA acquisition process.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
Allen Weinstein:
Archivist of the United States:
[End of section]
Appendix II: Comments from the National Archives and Records
Administration:
National Archives at College Park:
8601 Adelphi Road:
College Park, Maryland 20740-6001:
July 16, 2007:
Government Accountability Office:
Director of Information Management Issues:
Ms. Linda Koontz:
441 G Street, NW:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Ms. Koontz:
We thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the draft
report entitled Information Management The National Archives and
Records Administration's Fiscal Year 2007 Expenditure Plan (GAO-07-987)
before submission to the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General
Government, Senate Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on
Financial Services and General Government, House Appropriations
Committee. Once again, we are pleased to note the recognition of the
progress made towards implementing the recommendations provided in
GAO's report of August 18, 2006, Electronic Records Archives: The
National Archives and Records Administration 's Fiscal Year 2006
Expenditure Plan (GAO-06-906).
We would like to take this opportunity to update you on the status of
the efforts related to your observations since our last letter. The
report outlines the factors contributing to the delays in the project
to include low productivity of contractor software programmers,
difficulties in securing an acceptable contract to prepare the site
that is to house the system, and problems with software integration.
Although the contractor took actions to address these factors, NARA
concluded that the project schedule should be revised. The development
contractor plans to begin on September 28, 2007, incremental delivery
of functionality leading to an initial operating capability which will
include release 1 and limited functionality from release 2. The
remainder of release 2 functionality will be delivered in the second
quarter of FY08.
It should be clarified that in the factors contributing to the delays
sited above, site preparation is a government responsibility. It should
be noted that the site preparation has been completed, the contractor
has installed production hardware, and COTS software and the
communication network has been installed. This delay had very little
impact on the overall delays for the development of the system. It
should also be noted that the development contractor projects the
estimated cost of the project on September 28, 2007 to be about $2.6M
over budget, about $2M more than previously reported.
Also, the legislative condition requiring conformance to NARA's
enterprise life cycle methodology that was partially satisfied in the
report has been met. NARA's Risk Management Plan was signed on July 5,
2007.
Finally, we would like to clarify one point in the report. The end of
the third sentence on page 6 should be changed from "the following
remain to be addressed" to "the following remained to be addressed."
Again, we thank you for this opportunity and look forward to our future
interactions as we continue the ERA acquisition process.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
Allen Weinstein:
Archivist of the United States:
[End of section]
Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:
GAO Contact: Linda D. Koontz, (202) 512-6240 or Koontzl@gao.gov:
Staff Acknowledgments:
In addition to the contact named above, key contributions to this
report were made by Mirko J. Dolak, Assistant Director; Nabajyoti
Barkakati; Barbara S. Collier; Marisol Cruz; Neil J. Doherty;
Pamlutricia Greenleaf; and Amos A. Tevelow.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] NARA's fiscal year 2006 appropriations act, the authority and
conditions of which continue into fiscal year 2007, mandates that the
agency submit an expenditure plan before obligating fiscal 2007 funds
for the ERA program. The plan must (1) meet the capital planning and
investment control review requirements established by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), including Circular A-11; (2) comply with
NARA's enterprise architecture; (3) conform with NARA's enterprise life
cycle methodology; (4) comply with the acquisition rules, requirements,
guidelines, and system acquisition management practices of the federal
government; (5) be approved by NARA and OMB; and (6) be reviewed by
GAO. See P.L. No. 109-115, 119 Stat. 2396, 2486 (Nov. 30, 2005) and
Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal Year 2007, Pub.
L. No. 110-5, § 2, 121 Stat. 9 (Feb. 15, 2007).
[2] Release 1 is to provide the hardware, software, and communications
needed as a foundation for the system. Release 2 is to enable online
transfer of electronic records to NARA, annual transfers of records,
and secure storage of electronic records in original formats.
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