One agency requested the Commission review its enterprise-wide architecture. The agency appeared to lack a structured process for testing products within the architecture before placing them into use. The Commission recommended a centralized test bed which would enable the agency to simulate new functionalities and assess them before placing them into service.

One Commission-reviewed project faced serious risk of failure due to recent major shifts in the agency’s mission. If carried out according to the original plan, the project would simply have automated certain processes which no longer made sense in the new environment. The Commission recommended that the organization cease development of certain sub-systems, and retain consultants to facilitate high-level process redesign.

The Commission reviewed one project which had recently negotiated movement from a cost reimbursement contract to a fixed price contract. While the Commission concluded that this was an appropriate step, it noted that the agency would need to consider more thoroughly the different risks entailed by the new contract incentives, and that it would need to balance the risk between the agency and the contractor. For example, the Commission recommended that the agency tie progress payments to accomplishment of specific milestones.

One recently redesigned project lacked test and acceptance procedures for a large set of new technical requirements. The Commission recommended that the agency establish test and acceptance procedures at frequent milestones consistent with the project’s work breakdown structure. It further recommended that the requirements be re-baselined, and frozen, in order to ensure an acceptable level of functionality.

The Commission reviewed a project whose software development process was in a perpetual state of change. The Commission recommended the establishment of configuration management baselines as well as cost and schedule baselines.