We audited the Department’s progress in managing and implementing the Business Applications Solution (BAS) program. BAS is an enterprise financial system that will modernize the Department’s aging and disparate systems. We found that although the program prepared for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) operational transition to BAS, (1) the Department has not established the program’s baselines and does not adequately oversee the program’s cost and schedule performance; (2) the program does not have adequate cost and schedule management controls; and (3) the Department should capture the lessons it learned from implementing BAS at NOAA and apply them to upcoming implementations at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 1. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce ensure the development and ongoing maintenance of a lifecycle cost estimate and schedule for the program in accordance with the Department's Acquisition Project Management Policy (DAO-208-16) and the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide and Schedule Assessment Guide. | |||||
| 2 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce ensure that the BAS Executive Board reviews the program's cost, schedule, and scope performance against baselines, as well as risk management and additional metrics needed to support adequate investment oversight. | |||||
| 3 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 3. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce ensure the program defines and executes cost management controls in accordance with the Department's Acquisition Project Management Policy (DAO-208-16) and the Department of Commerce Cost Estimating Guide. | |||||
| 4 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 4. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce ensure the program defines and executes schedule management controls in accordance with the Department's Acquisition Project Management Policy DAO-208-16 and GAO's Schedule Assessment Guide. | |||||
| 5 | Yes | $0 | $1,905,622 | ||
| 5. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce direct the program to work with the contractor to ensure the Department receives the full value of monthly reports by including sufficient information for monitoring cost compared to budget and managing changes to schedule and cost baselines, thereby putting funds for those deliverables to better use. | |||||
| 6 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 6. We recommend that the Deputy Secretary of Commerce ensure the Department facilitates the collection of lessons learned from the NOAA financial applications' implementation and incorporates those lessons into plans and procedures for the NIST and Census implementations. | |||||
