(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plan to modernize its data operations is too vague, lacks deadlines and doesn’t assign clear responsibility for completing the project, a government watchdog said in a report. 

The CDC’s Data Modernization Initiative was launched in 2020 as part of a broader push to overhaul the country’s public health information systems and improve capacity to respond to threats like Covid-19. While the pandemic pushed some of those efforts into high speed, the Government Accountability Office report said that the agency’s overall plan “does not articulate the specific actions, time frames, and allocation of roles and responsibilities needed to achieve its objectives.”

And while the CDC has been given $1.1 billion to move ahead with its data plans, the agency had yet to fully lay out plans for spending the money, according to the GAO, the investigational arm of Congress.

The CDC is the top agency in a fractured U.S. public health system that’s been under fire as the nation has struggled to deal with the pandemic. One area for criticism has been its use of data that’s mainly collected from independent state and local health departments around the country.

The agency has published a strategic plan for its data modernization effort, including several “key results” it hopes to achieve, such as better sharing of data between different levels of government, along with tools and systems. But many of those goals don’t contain time-frames for completion. 

The agency “has made progress” in some areas, the GAO said Wednesday, such as getting testing labs to report results electronically. The CDC this month launched a new Center for Outbreak Forecasting and Analytics, with the goal of providing faster analysis and advice. And it is pushing for more authority to collect data from health-care facilities -- making the reporting of several key categories of data mandatory, rather than voluntary, after the government declares the Covid-19 emergency to be over. 

But it has also been hindered by outdated technologies in state and local public health departments, which in some cases have to manually enter data, or send it by fax. 

“Without more specific, actionable plans, including time frames for achieving data modernization objectives, spending plans, and the entities that are responsible for taking actions, CDC may not be able to gauge its progress on the initiative or achieve key results in a timely manner,” the GAO said in its report. 

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has promised to review the agency’s structure and operations, and has emphasized the need to improve the data capabilities. 

The CDC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the GAO report.

The report was shared with the Department of Health and Human Services, which in an appendix attached to the report said it agreed with the GAO’s conclusions. 

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