A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agency assessments of the performance of information technology (IT) investments in operations and maintenance (O&M)--commonly referred to as operational analyses (OAs)--vary significantly. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance calls for agencies to develop an OA policy and perform such analyses annually to ensure steady state investments continue to meet agency needs. The guidance also includes 17 key factors (addressing areas such as cost, schedule, customer satisfaction, and innovation) that are to be assessed. The five agencies GAO reviewed varied in the extent to which they carried out these tasks."