OIG Finds Amtrak Could Have Saved on IT Work

A recent report by the Amtrak Office of the Inspector General concluded the company could have saved $17.9 million in cost overruns on information technology projects if it had more clearly defined the projects requirements.

Amtrak management agreed with the finding of the OIG, which attributed the issue to unclear or incomplete technology project requirements.

In a news release, the Amtrak OIG said investigators found that business department staff did not understand their responsibilities in working with the IT department to clearly define project requirements; Amtrak did not resource some projects with sufficient IT and/or business staff; and project teams did not include staff from the appropriate business departments.

OIG said improving the technology project process could have helped Amtrak to avoid schedule delays, in some cases totaling more than a year, and $17.9 million in cost overruns in four out of 11 projects reviewed.

The report recommended that Amtrak clarify roles to ensure that assigned staff better understand their responsibilities.

The passenger carrier also was urged to develop a process to identify and plan for the company’s technology resource needs beyond 2022 because its IT and business departments do not have a process to coordinate long-term technology resource needs, the report stated.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak Office of Inspector General, information technology