Let’s just pause a moment

Sometimes it’s worthwhile just to re-assess a project that’s going wrong.  And that’s exactly what Veterans’ Affairs (VA) is doing. The Veterans Affairs Department is putting 45 information technology projects on hold — at least temporarily — while it figures out how to get them back on track. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced the decision today in a press release. He says the agency will evaluate the projects, which range from e-learning to document imaging to medical billing to health IT, to determine if they are worth continuing.

“VA has a responsibility to the American people, who are investing millions of dollars in technology projects, to deliver quality results that adhere to a budget and are delivered on time.” Shinseki says. “They need to have confidence that the dollars they are spending are being effectively used to improve the lives of our veterans.”

The projects are worth an estimated $200 million in fiscal 2009, according to the Office of Management and Budget. According to OMB’s IT dashboard Web site, VA lists 41 major investments worth $2.6 billion for 2009. Of those 41 major investments, 26 are considered at high risk, including 20 that are off schedule.

On Friday’s In Depth with Francis Rose, VA chief information officer Roger Baker outlined why the projects were put on hold and not simply terminated, “We are going to change things and try and bring them back on track. We still have a requirement for the things those projects are trying to accomplish.” Federal chief information officer Vivek Kundra says on a blog post that the worst offender of these 45 projects is “110 percent over budget and 17 months behind schedule.”

This entry was posted on 18. July 2009 at 06:33 and is filed under projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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