Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced today that the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released the “Audit of the DoD’s Development and Maintenance of the Digital Modernization Strategy.” The audit objective was to assess whether the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO) complied with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-130 requirements for the development and maintenance of the DoD’s Digital Modernization Strategy (DMS).
“The DMS should be the cornerstone for making informed decisions to help the DoD achieve its digital modernization goals,” said IG Storch. “Although the DoD CIO met some of OMB’s policy requirements, implementing the recommendations in this report will further assist in achieving its modernization goals.”
The DoD OIG determined that the DoD CIO did not develop or maintain the DMS in accordance with the OMB Circular. Although the DMS describes the agency’s technology and information resource goals and aligns those goals with the agency’s mission and organizational priorities, the DoD CIO failed to:
- Ensure that 41 percent of the strategy elements that support the DMS goals are specific, verifiable, and measurable;
- Conduct required annual DMS reviews in FYs 2022 and 2023; and
- Provide documentation that such reviews were conducted in FYs 2020 and 2021.
The DoD OIG found that this occurred because of a lack of guidance, staff changes, and indecision over whether to update the existing DMS or develop a new one.
The DoD OIG made 10 recommendations, including that the DoD CIO develop and implement standard operating procedures for developing strategy elements and reviewing the DMS. The DoD OIG also recommended that the DoD CIO designate an official to ensure that the DMS meets all OMB Circular A-130 requirements. The DoD OIG will continue to monitor the DoD CIO’s implementation of the recommendations in this report.