The Government Accountability Office has called on the Office of Management and Budget to either designate the implementation of a framework designed to enhance the transparency of federal spending on IT as an administration priority or terminate the effort.
Although OMB introduced the Technology Business Management, or TBM, framework in 2017, GAO said most agencies do not have a plan to implement it.
GAO Investigation Findings
The congressional watchdog has previously discussed the framework in previous reports. In 2022, GAO noted that both OMB and the General Services Administration led government-wide implementation of the TBM, but progress was limited.
OMB’s 2017 plan required agencies to report IT spending in two layers: layer one with nine categories and layer two with 11 categories. Layer 1 includes facilities and power, hardware and software. Layer 2 categories include applications, data centers and networks.
GAO made seven recommendations in its 2022 report, including expanding the rest of the framework’s taxonomy. OMB only partially implemented one of the recommendations and did not implement five, including the expansion of taxonomy.
OMB also did not give agencies a reliable cost allocation methodology for implementing TBM. As a result, GAO found that 18 agencies had either only partially or not implemented a reliable cost allocation methodology.
In addition, the watchdog interviewed agency officials on TBM implementation benefits. While officials reported increased transparency, no cost savings were identified.
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