Federal agencies rushed to meet Office of Management and Budget data center consolidation reporting and plan deadlines, the Government Accountability Office says, setting up the initiative for the possibility of delay and reduced cost savings.

In a report dated July 19, but released publically July 26, GAO auditors say that agency plans for data center consolidation due to OMB by August 30, 2010, often lacked some elements, or only partially satisfied them. OMB announced in December 2010 an effort to close 800 data centers by 2015; it recently said that agencies have closed 81 so far and that 195 will be shut down by the end of this year.

Of the 23 CFO Act agencies that submitted a plan--the Department of Housing and Urban Development didn't submit one on the grounds that it doesn't own any data centers--20 didn't include a completed master program schedule for center closure.

Only five agencies provided a complete cost-benefit analysis and fewer than half both referenced a risk management plan and said they would track risks, the report says.

"When asked about the elements missing from their plans, many agency officials stated that they completed what they could within the timelines provided by OMB," the GAO report says.

Without a comprehensive plan, "agencies are at increased risk that they will be ill-prepared to manage such a significant transformation," the report adds.

The uncertainty extends to other areas, as well. Although OMB has pressed publically forward with the effort, Federal Chief Information Vivek Kundra said during a July 20 press call that OMB isn't yet exactly sure how much money the center closure effort will save.

"Agencies are in the process right now of compiling that data," Kundra said; the White House has been saying that the closures should save more than $3 billion.

For more:
- download the report, GAO-11-565 (.pdf)

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