GAO and OIG Agree: NASA CIO Is Underperforming

OIG: NASA Chief Information Officer Is Doing A Crappy Job, earlier post (2017 OIG report)
“In the 4 years since issuance of our IT governance report and the 3 years since completion of its own internal review, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has made insufficient progress to improve NASA’s IT governance, casting doubt on the office’s ability to effectively oversee the Agency’s IT assets. Specifically, the NASA Chief Information Officer (CIO) continues to have limited visibility into IT investments across the Agency and the process NASA developed to correct this shortcoming is flawed.”
Agencies Need to Improve Certification of Incremental Development, GAO
“… Among the reported investments, we identified 166 investments undertaking software development activities in which at least 50 percent or more of funding was allocated to development, modernization, and enhancement activities. For each of these investments, we assessed the status of reported certifications by the CIOs of the respective agencies. [Three agencies, NASA, NSF, and NRC, did not have any investments that met this criteria for fiscal year 2017.]”

“… The Administrator of NASA should ensure that the CIO of NASA establishes an agency-wide policy and process for the CIO’s certification of major IT investments’ adequate use of incremental development, in accordance with OMB’s guidance on the implementation of FITARA, and confirm that it includes: a description of the CIO’s role in the certification process; a description of how CIO certification will be documented; and a definition of incremental development and time frames for delivering functionality, consistent with OMB guidance. (Recommendation 13)”
“… In written comments, NASA concurred with the recommendation to establish an agency-wide policy and process for CIO certification of adequate incremental development and described ongoing actions to implement it. Specifically, the agency stated that it is currently updating its policies to address the incremental development requirement. In this regard, NASA Policy Directive 2800.1 is to include a responsibility for the Office of the CIO to certify that IT resources are adequately implementing incremental development. In addition, NASA Policy Directive 7120.7 is being updated to include a definition of incremental development and processes for ensuing that the CIO certifies incremental development. According to the agency, these policies are estimated to be completed by March 2018. NASA’s comments are reprinted in XI.”