In 2003, the Volcker Commission recommended that explicit pay-for-performance (PFP) systems be adopted more broadly throughout the federal government. In this occasional paper, the authors compare several proposals aimed at enhancing the role of such PFP schemes for federal civil servants, and examine the pros and cons of PFP schemes compared with seniority-based salary systems, as well as the proposals to change the General Schedule system.

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.

Roadmap for a more efficient and accountable federal government: implementing the GPRA Modernization Act: joint hearing before the Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee and the Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee of the Committee