Agencies miss OMB deadlines for upgrading networks

Multiple federal agencies have failed to meet critical Office of Management and Budget deadlines for making the transition to the next generation of the Internet, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. Unless key planning activities are completed, agencies risk failing to complete the transition on time, the report states.

OMB has mandated that all agencies shift the backbones of their networks to Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, by June 30, 2008. The agency has set a series of deadlines to measure progress toward the goal. Critics have argued that agencies are not receiving sufficient resources to meet the deadline, while others have praised OMB for aggressively pushing agencies to upgrade.

While the GAO report (GAO-06-675) did not name agencies, it said 10 had yet to develop IPv6-related policies and enforcement mechanisms, a task that was supposed to be completed by February 2006. Only 10 agencies had started performing network maintenance and monitoring related to IPv6, and only 13 out of 24 had developed a plan for testing IPv6 compatibility.

As of February, only nine agencies had developed estimates for the cost of the transition, which ranged from $960,000 to more than $20 million.

The shift to IPv6, while potentially difficult, promises to bring about a revolution in how the Internet is utilized, supporters state. Since it increases the number of IP addresses from about 4.3 billion to 340 trillion trillion trillion -- an increase greater than the number of visible stars in the universe -- everything from microwaves to cell phones could be assigned an IP address.

For example, the Defense Department, a government leader in shifting its network to IPv6, could create a three-dimensional map of the Earth and assign IP addresses as coordinates to track the movement of vehicles and soldiers.

Supporters also say IPv6 will bring increased network security, but the GAO report concluded that current security tools are not mature enough to guard against cyberattacks on an IPv6 network.

Since private sector companies so far have little incentive to prepare for the IPv6 transition, few applications have been developed that take advantage of IPv6 features, the report states.

Despite the OMB deadline, within the government only the Pentagon is developing IPv6 applications, while another four agencies are considering them.

GAO recommended that agencies work through the Chief Information Officers Council's Architecture and Infrastructure Committee and the IPv6 Working Group to help manage the transition to IPv6. In response to the report, OMB generally agreed with GAO's recommendations.

OMB has opposed calls from House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., who requested the GAO report, to create a central authority dedicated to administering agencies' transition. OMB officials have said that Karen Evans, administrator of the agency's Office of E-Government and Information Technology, already has the necessary authority to oversee the IPv6 transition.