25 



ttfy solutions. The agencies are most con- 

 cerned with meeting their objectives, whiJe 

 the IG is most concerned with cost-effective- 

 ness — it's a different focus." 



Many agency heads say that, ultimately, 

 they appreciate the assistance. Frances 

 Balint, chief of automation at the National 

 Meteorological Center, where the auditmg 

 office reviewed a cost/benefit study for up- 

 grading a supercomputer system, says. "It's 

 helpful to have them working for us up front 

 so we can work things out as we go along. 

 When you're ready to move, everyone is sat- 

 isfied with the package. You don't get de- 

 layed later on." 



Staffing for Unique Challenges 



Commerce is a crazy-quilt department with 

 agencies as diverse as the National Oceanic 

 and Atmosphenc Administration (NOAA). 

 the Census Bureau and the PTO in its baili- 

 wick. The department's 13 major technical 

 systems are spread among these three agen- 

 cies and the National Institute of Standards 

 and Technology and the International Trade 

 Administration. (See table, page 31.) To- 

 gether, they will spend more than $550 mil- 

 lion on technical systems in 1989, DeGeorge 

 says, about 18 percent of Commerce's $3 

 billion annual budget. 



Newell claims that the information tech- 

 oology office's recommendations have saved 

 Commerce more than $300 million in the 



three years since DeGeorge shifted the of- 

 fices' focus to major systems. The greatest 

 chunk of savings has come from an examina- 

 tion of NOAA's ongoing modernization ef- 

 forts, according to Lieberman. This in- 

 cludes: $85 million saved on an advanced 

 radar procurement; at least $25 million from 



"Isn't it more intelligent to 

 discuss where you're going, 

 even if it may change? But 

 not everyone in the IG 

 community agrees with me." 



— Commerce IG Frank DeGeorge 



delaying the launch of an envirorunental sat- 

 ellite: and as much as $50 million on planned 

 telecommunications networks for weather 

 data. 



DeGeorge conceived the information 

 technology auditing unit five years ago while 

 he was deputy IG. together with then-IG 



Cnmmmtcm Inspector Ommt*! Frank 



DeGeorge has established the onty 

 Institutionalized front -end auditing olTlce in 

 government. 



Sherman M. Funk, in response to the de- 

 partment's need for expert, objective sys- 

 tems analysis. Initially called the Office of 

 Automated Information Systems, the divi- 

 sion's focus shifted between 1985-87 from 

 general audits to major technical systems, 

 defined at Commerce as those that either 

 exceed $100 miUion in development costs or 

 are critical to the department's activities. 



"Much of Commerce's budget goes to 

 systems," DeGeorge says. "We started ask- 

 ing, how do you judge the correctness of 

 these expenditures? We looked at the whole 

 continuum of the procurement process and 

 decided the best way to make something 

 happen is in the design phase, before it be- 

 comes bureaucraticaljy locked in." 



Some inspectors general differ with this 

 premise, on the grounds that endorsing a 

 system at the design stage makes it impossi- 

 ble to be objective in the final review. 'Tm 

 not of that school," DeGeorge says firmly. 

 "We can always say later that we may have 

 been wrong. Isn't it more intelligent to dis- 

 cuss where you're going, even if it may 

 change? But not everyone in the IG commu- 

 nity agrees with me." 



Creating the information technology of- 

 fice. DeGeorge relates, required combing 

 government and private industry to find a 

 team capable of talking as equals with sys- 

 tems experts, scientists and agency direc- 

 tors—a recruiting challenge given the fed- 

 eral government's low sa lanes. 



"These men have to know enough to 

 force the system managers to answer to a 

 level of accountabibty, to ask the right ques- 

 tions at the right time," DeGeorge says. "A 

 person with John Newell's skills could proba- 

 bly make a quarter of million dollars a year 

 outside. We had a very tough time bringing 

 federal people in." 



The opportunity to audit programs on the 

 cutting edge of technology is key to enticing 

 recruits, says Lieberman, who is trained as a 

 certified public accountant and has audited 

 government systems since 1976. "No two 

 problems are alike, and we deal daily with 

 world-class scientists. It is extremely chal- 

 lenging." Training even the most talented 

 graduates takes three to five years, 

 Lieberman says. So at the moment he is 

 making do with a working staff of 18, leaving 

 five budgeted job slots empty while the new 

 hires come up to speed. 



