Citation[]
Information Technology: Agencies Need to Develop Modernization Plans for Critical Legacy Systems (GAO-19-471) (June 11, 2019) (full-text).
Overview[]
The U.S. government plans to spend over $90 billion this fiscal year on information technology. Most of that will be used to operate and maintain existing systems, including aging (also called legacy) systems. These systems can be more costly to maintain and vulnerable to hackers.
The GAO analyzed 65 federal legacy systems and identified the 10 most critical at 10 agencies ranging from Defense to Treasury. The systems were 8 to 51 years old. Three agencies had no documented plans to modernize. Two had plans that included key practices for success.