IRS technology chief says overreaching hurt modernization effort
CIO Todd Grams says agency took on too many projects at once without the right personnel, and efforts are under way to fix the situation.
The chief information officer at the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that the six-year-old modernization program has faltered because the agency took on too many technology projects at one time and did not recruit the right personnel to handle them.
"I think what we put on the table was doomed to fail from the beginning," said Todd Grams, who became CIO in June 2003. IRS officials attempted to modernize taxpayer master files, the agency's personnel system and two accounting systems, while simultaneously revamping the tax filing system. Those projects, including the Customer Account Data Engine system and the Integrated Financial System, have been plagued by extensive delays and overspending during development, according to IRS officials.
The IRS Oversight Board released its annual report Tuesday, expressing cautious optimism that the projects were moving in the right direction.
Grams said the agency has realized its missteps and learned from them.
"Don't bite off more than you can chew, and get the right people in the right jobs," he said during a discussion in Washington hosted by the Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation at American University. "We're not afraid to say we made a mistake, and we'll change it."
Grams said he is hiring personnel under critical pay authority, and the agency is planning to lay off about 700 people and replace them with technology specialists.
"We're getting rid of a lot of overhead and [administrative] positions," he said.
He dismissed concerns that the reduction-in-force could cause upheaval and cause further complications for the modernization.
"We have a situation that is bad," he said. While the layoffs might not solve all problems, they will improve the situation, Grams argued. The National Treasury Employees Union has opposed the reduction, and Grams said he is in negotiations with NTEU President Colleen Kelley about the cuts.
Grams also said he has been addressing the agency's fundamental problems since his arrival, including insufficient information on staffing and a reluctance to confront industry representatives over contracts and deadlines.
"We have a terrible relationship with our contractors, I think. It doesn't mean we're not fighting; it means we're not fighting enough," Grams said. "We have got to hold the contractors more accountable." He said repeatedly that he was not a technology expert, but was brought into the CIO position for his business experience. Robert Tobias, the director of the public policy institute, agreed, saying that most failed technology programs falter because of management problems, not technical errors. He applauded the IRS for bringing Grams into the position.
"I have not come in and formed some grand technical vision," Grams said. Instead, he has focused on "getting this organization fixed and getting it aligned with the business units."
Grams said that IRS technology projects face a funding crunch in future years. He declined to predict the outcome of the modernization effort.
"Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't, I don't know," Grams said. "I'm not making any guarantees, we are doing the best we can."