Like most federal agencies, the Treasury Department continues to struggle with modernizing its IT systems, prompting the agency inspector general to retain IT acquisition and project management on the annual list of top management challenges.
The latest report from the IG’s office covers six challenges: one new—the COVID-19 response—and five repeated from years past. Acquisition and management of IT remains among the recurring challenges cited each year.
The report notes the department—excluding the IRS—spent $2 billion on IT investments in fiscal 2020, a number expected to rise in 2021 once a budget is finalized.
“Given this sizable investment, we are reporting the department’s IT acquisition and project management as an ongoing management and performance challenge distinct from challenge three that addresses cybersecurity concerns,” the report states.
Of the department’s 21 ongoing major IT investments, 18 were deemed moderately low or low risk, according to the Office of the Chief Information Officer.
The other three—all managed by the Fiscal Service—were ranked a medium risk: the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, Post Payment Services and Wholesale Securities Services. All three were over budget in 2020, and EFTPS and WSS were also behind schedule.
The report pulls out the WSS program specifically, which includes several IT projects under its umbrella. Of those, the report focuses on the Treasury Automated Auction Processing System, or TAAPS, which is “used by Fiscal Service for the announcement, auction, and issuance of marketable Treasury bills, notes, bonds, Treasury inflation-protected securities, and floating rate notes.”
The Fiscal Service began working in 2017 to modernize the platform but canceled the project in 2020 “due to contractor delays and problems,” including code qu ..
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