Although the retirement/replacement stage of the
information technology (IT) life cycle is outside the scope of the
process of considering emerging technology (ET) per se, agencies should
continually be considering needs and opportunities to retire existing
IT components and replace them with more efficient and cost-effective
components that have "graduated"
from the ET.gov process.
IT applications and systems for which large sums are requested for
operations and maintenance (O&M) in the annual budget process
(Stage 5) should be considered high-priority targets for replacement
with newer, standards-compliant, service-oriented, component-based
technologies.
Agencies should avoid the natural, well-known but irrational human
tendency to honor sunk costs by continuing to invest in needlessly
expensive technologies and systems simply because large sums of money
have already been spent on them. The IT required to conduct We
the People's business as efficiently and effectively as possible should
be acquired, operated, and maintained at
the least possible cost to the taxpayers. In many cases doing so
will involve the use of new and innovative technology.
|
