Federal information technology modernization : assessing compliance with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act : hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, June 21, 2001.

The federal government plans to spend over $90 billion in fiscal year 2019 on IT. About 80 percent of this amount is used to operate and maintain existing IT investments, including aging (also called legacy) systems. As they age, legacy systems can be more costly to maintain, more exposed to cybersecurity risks, and less effective in meeting their intended purpose. GAO was asked to review federal agencies’ legacy systems. This report (1) identifies the most critical federal legacy systems in need of modernization and evaluates agency plans for modernizing them, and (2) identifies examples of legacy system modernization initiatives that agencies considered successful. The 24 agencies also provided 94 examples of successful IT modernizations from the last 5 years. In addition, GAO identified other examples of modernization successes at these agencies. GAO then selected a total of five examples to highlight a mix of system modernization types and a range of benefits realized. This is a public version of a sensitive report that is being issued concurrently. Information that agencies deemed sensitive has been omitted.

Dramatic changes continue to occur in the world's economic, political, technological, and environmental landscapes. Increases in global trade, transnational terrorism and organized crime, and international health concerns, for example, are combining to create a more complex, more vulnerable world scene. To promote U.S. interests in the face of such rapid change, 24 federal agencies are collectively engaged in foreign affairs activities at 255 overseas locations in 162 countries.