Veterans Affairs: Additional Details Are Needed in Key Planning Documents to Guide the New Financial and Logistics Initiative
Highlights
Through its Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE) initiative, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is developing a new system that is intended to fulfill the critical need for a modernized and integrated financial and asset management capability. FLITE is the successor to an earlier initiative that the department undertook--the Core Financial and Logistics System (CoreFLS)--which was discontinued in 2004. GAO was asked to determine (1) the department's overall plan for developing FLITE, (2) the status of its development efforts, (3) VA oversight of this initiative, and (4) whether lessons learned from the CoreFLS initiative have been considered and incorporated into the plan for developing FLITE. To achieve these objectives, GAO analyzed program documentation against relevant policies and best practices and interviewed program and project officials.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | To help guide the FLITE effort and ensure successful completion of the initiative, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Assistant Secretary for Management and the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology to ensure additional specificity and details are added to certain key planning documents, such as the concept of operations and work breakdown structure. |
Closed – Implemented
In comments on the report, VA concurred with the recommendation and took action to begin addressing the issues we identified. For example, VA provided an update to its Financial Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE) Concept of Operations (ConOps) and FLITE Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Although the agency canceled the overall FLITE Program in July 2010, and terminated the remaining IT project under FLITE in October 2011, we consider the action taken to be responsive to our recommendation to add specificity to key planning documents.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | To help guide the FLITE effort and ensure successful completion of the initiative, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Assistant Secretary for Management and the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology to address all findings in the CoreFLS findings repository to minimize risk to the successful implementation of FLITE. |
Closed – Implemented
In comments on the report, VA concurred with the recommendation. Subsequently, the FLITE Program established a repository of lessons learned, which included lessons learned from the CoreFLS effort. VA officials provided GAO with a copy of the lessons learned register, which included documentation showing that all items in the repository had been addressed.
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