Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410170031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, said he will introduce a bill early next year to streamline computer purchases.
``Taxpayers have spent more than $200 billion in the last decade on computer systems that are antiquated, incompatible and not doing the job they are supposed to do,'' Cohen said.
A private company updating its computer system can do in 13 months what it takes the government 49 months to accomplish, he said.
``The government spends $25 billion annually on computers and computer-related equipment and services, making it the world's largest single purchaser of these products,'' said Cohen.
Federal government computers perform such functions as processing tax returns, monitoring business trends and providing weather information to morning commuters.
But the equipment often is dreadfully outmoded, found Cohen's staff on the Senate Governmental Affairs oversight subcommittee, which spent a year studying federal computer-buying habits.
They found that mainframe computers, long since replaced by personal computers in private industry, still are used to run vital U.S. government operations, Cohen said.
The computers that run the nation's air-traffic-control system, for example, are so old that the Federal Aviation Administration sometimes goes to junkyards for spare parts.
Outdated Internal Revenue Service computer systems have contributed to a $70 billion backlog in uncollected taxes and records so unreliable that the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, could not audit them adequately, the report said.
Cohen's streamlining bill for large computer-system purchases has the same objectives as one President Clinton is signing into law Thursday to speed up purchases and save money on smaller items used by the government.
Cohen said laptop computers, for example, would be covered by the new law, but the larger systems are not.
The senator recommends:
A review of computer systems to make sure they do what they're supposed to and suspending any additional purchases until the review is complete.
Early planning to encourage agencies to re-evaluate how they do business before spending money on new computer systems.
Eliminating bureaucratic barriers that slow purchases, possibly leasing and turning over to private companies certain tasks as a means of getting access to the latest technology.
Buying commercially available hardware and software rather than developing unique and expensive systems.
by CNB