An Excursion into Government Legacy IT Systems - IV

4.     Current System State

To get to a better place, it helps to know where you are and where you want to be.

4.1     Current State (Baseline): legacy systems

There are many government IT systems in operation now, but rather than investigate individual systems in depth, this section will make several general observations (open to counter examples):

·         Many legacy government IT systems include hardware and software now outdated. They rely on a decreasing number of programmers and system experts to implement changes because it is difficult to find and retain programmers with either the background or the interest in old systems;

·         Without adequate programming support, it is very difficult to modify the systems to fix problems, meet new requirements, or meet rising demand;

·         Systems of different agencies are generally not standardized or connected; and

·         The systems generally use different UIs, programming languages, data models, and documentation guidelines.

4.2     Of little interest to the private sector

Private-sector companies that rely on a high volume of sales are unlikely to find it profitable to work on a single system. On the other hand, enterprise-system vendors are happy to sell any agency a copy of their product. That product may or may not be adaptable to meet the agency need; and it is very likely that the agency workforce will require significant re-training. Thus, even if the new system can be made to work, the workforce may be reluctant to use it.

Proposal, certification, and documentation processes may drain away much of the profit from a government contract.