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Testimony from GAO's Powner on best practices for IT spending.

GAO's David A. Powner, Director of Information Technology Management Issues, testifies before the House Oversight Committee on Nov. 13, 2013

The Government Accountability Office's David Powner testified Nov. 13 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on best practices in IT acquistion.

WHAT: A Government Accountability Office report entitled, "Information Technology: Leveraging Best Practices to Help Ensure Successful Major Acquisitions."

WHY: David Powner, director of IT issues at GAO, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on best practices for IT investment. The federal government is slated to spend $82 billion on IT in fiscal 2014.

Powner identified seven federal IT projects, including the Veterans Affairs Department's occupational health record-keeping system, as examples of projects hitting their mark -- and discussed the common factors that seemed critical to their success.

VERBATIM: "Among these seven IT investments, officials identified nine factors as critical to the success of three or more of the seven. The factors most commonly identified include active engagement of stakeholders, program staff with the necessary knowledge and skills, and senior department and agency executive support for the program."

FULL REPORT