The Good News: IRS Knows It Needs Better IT Project ManagersThe Good News: IRS Knows It Needs Better IT Project Managers

There appears to be some optimism in a new government report about how the Internal Revenue Service is responding to problems in its business-systems modernization project.

There's also a caveat from the report's author, Gordon Milbourn, acting deputy inspector general for audit: The program needs more attention and more resources.

The modernization project will touch almost every aspect of the IRS's operations. The prime contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Corp. in 1998, and like most massive federal projects, this one has endured problems, missed deadlines, and cost overruns. It's also a highly visible project, receiving perhaps a surplus of attention from Capitol Hill.

Milbourn, who could not be reached for comment, says in his report that IRS officials appear to be addressing earlier criticism. The barbs boil down to a shortage of qualified business-technology project managers and staff.

Among the dozens of problems cited by four studies of problems with the modernization plan are: inadequate funding planning; poor management-responsibility allocation; and unrealistic budgets, schedules, and test estimates.

It was the IRS's response to those criticisms, its so-called Business Systems Modernization Challenges Plan, that Milbourn reviews in his report. An IRS spokesperson could not be reached for comment. The same is true for CSC.

Most of the problems cited could have been avoided if the IRS were staffed with better-qualified IT managers, says Ray Bjorklund, senior VP of Federal Sources Inc., a market-intelligence firm that works with the public sector.

"One broad implication manifest in the [Challenges] plan is the government admitting that the skills needed to run large complex programs are very lacking," says Bjorklund. "There are some smart program managers. There's just not enough of them."

Milbourn dutifully notes that IRS leaders point to budgets and deadlines that are regularly met now. There's also a more diligent effort to recruit project managers.

That's the guarded optimism. But Bjorklund says, "There's a stern message, too. You're not there yet."