US government wastes billions on mismanaged IT projects

Accountability Office also finds cost overruns hidden by project " rebaselining"

US government has too many badly managed IT projects

Proving that cost overruns and failed projects are not the exclusive property of the UK government, a US report into American public sector IT projects has uncovered billions of wasted dollars.

In fiscal 2008, the US Government Accountability Office (the equivalent of the UK's National Audit Office) found 413 IT projects worth $25 (£12.7) billion which were "poorly planned, purely performing, or both".

Its report also claimed that projects were often "rebaselined". It said: "At times, changes to this information – called a rebaselining – are made to reflect changed development circumstances. These changes can be done for valid reasons, but can also be used to mask cost overruns and schedule delays."