Report raps IRS technology budgeting practices

The Internal Revenue Service did not base its $1.63 billion fiscal 2003 budget request for information systems on leading private- and public-sector information technology practices, according to a General Accounting Office report released Friday.

In the report, "Internal Revenue Service: Improving Adequacy of Information Systems Budget Justification" (GAO-02-704), GAO recommended that the IRS commisioner direct IRS executives to prepare the IRS' information-systems budget for fiscal 2004 in accordance with industry best practices.

The study noted that in its fiscal 2003 budget, the IRS requested $240 million for staff and equipment supporting desktop computers, $111 million for staff and equipment for computer center operations and $266 million for telecommunications services. Those three items represent 38 percent of the IRS's $1.63 billion total technology budget request, but they were not based on projects and outcomes, GAO said.

The IRS admitted that in developing its IT operations and maintenance budget, it took what was spent last year and simply added money to account for inflation and salary increases, the report said.