October 30, 2014

Follow-up on the Department of Energy's Management of Information Technology Hardware

The Department of Energy (Department) and its facility contractors rely on various types of information technology (IT) resources to accomplish objectives related to its national security, energy, science and environmental missions. Based on cost data obtained from eight sites, we estimated that the Department likely spent more than $125 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 on IT hardware such as servers, desktops, laptops and printers.

Prior Office of Inspector General reports revealed that the Department had not adequately managed the acquisition and control of IT hardware. Although the Department made efforts to address prior recommendations, we found that weaknesses in the Department's governance of IT hardware continued to exist. In particular, the Department had not effectively managed its IT hardware acquisition process or fully developed and implemented an IT supply chain risk management program. As such, we determined that the Department spent nearly $2 million more than necessary in FY 2012 at the eight sites included in our review.

The problems we identified occurred, in part, because the Department had not developed and implemented a comprehensive approach to managing IT hardware. For instance, the Department and its facility contractors had not always developed and enforced hardware standards; implemented procedures to ensure organizations and sites effectively coordinated acquisition efforts; and fully leveraged enterprise-wide purchasing agreements.

Although positive actions had been taken, additional effort is necessary to ensure the Department effectively manages IT hardware acquisition and maintenance. As such, we made recommendations that could help the Department realize potential savings of up to approximately $6 million over the next 3 years at just the eight reviewed locations.

Topic: Management & Administration