(GAO: Washington, D.C.) -- In 1995, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) designated Department of Defense (DOD) business systems modernization as a high-risk program, and the program remains on the high-risk list today. A key to successful systems modernization is having and using an enterprise architecture, including elements of lean and Six Sigma process controls, as an authoritative frame of reference, or blueprint, for system investment decisions.

To assist DOD in modernizing its business systems, Congress passed legislation consistent with prior GAO recommendations for DOD to develop and implement a business enterprise architecture (BEA). In response, DOD developed a corporate BEA that it intends to federate, or extend, to the military departments and defense agencies. To support GAO’s legislative mandate to review DOD’s BEA, GAO evaluated the status of the Air Force, Navy, and Army architecture programs. To accomplish this, GAO used its enterprise architecture management maturity framework and associated evaluation method.

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