SEC: EDGAR Update

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) management of its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) project, focusing on SEC acceptance of a partially complete requirements document and increase in system requirements and cost. GAO found that: (1) SEC justification for accepting an incomplete requirements document and adding new requirements was not reasonable, since SEC had the results of a pilot program which proved the feasibility of a system such as EDGAR; (2) SEC did not effectively prioritize or control the growth of system requirements; (3) SEC did not state the probable final contract cost, but estimated that the contract cost could be $78.3 million by 1997; (4) contrary to its assertion, SEC did not maintain adequate top management oversight of EDGAR; (5) although SEC indicated that it had implemented a GAO recommendation to modify an oversight board so that it incorporated characteristics of a top management steering committee, it did not provide any specific details on the board's oversight accomplishments; and (6) SEC should continue to report on EDGAR progress to Congress every 6 months, since the system is not fully developed.