ORLANDO, Fla. — The financial system modernization projects halted for review by the Obama administration will likely eventually win approval, but with smaller price tags, lower risk and a faster deployment schedule, Office of Management and Budget Controller Danny Werfel predicted Tuesday.

"We have to start looking at our technology and what it's producing for us … and looking at the cost and seeing if it measures up," Werfel told a standing-room crowd at an Association of Government Accountants professional development conference here.

In a wide-ranging critique of federal policy on information technology procurement, Werfel said projects are too big, cost too much and take too long to "go live."

"Everyone seems to agree that there is an opportunity for improvement," he said.

The Obama administration announced June 28 it is freezing future investment in at least 20 projects worth billions of dollars. OMB will review the projects this summer with the help of a six-member advisory board of chief financial officers and chief information officers from a half-dozen agencies, including the Veteran Affairs and Housing and Urban Development departments and the National Institutes of Health.

While OMB's decision has angered IT contractors and industry groups, it has the backing of at least one CFO, Jim Taylor of the Labor Department.

Taylor, who joined Werfel in a panel discussion on Tuesday, had earlier related the hurdles his department faced in pursuing an 18-month financial system overhaul. While the cost of that endeavor was $15 million, Taylor said, the price tag rose to $50 million if failed efforts from the last few years were included.

"As far as reviews go, I don't see a problem with it at all," he said in response to an audience question. "In fact, having a peer sit down and walk through what I'm doing, I think we welcome."

As Federal Times previously reported, the new OMB policy has also provoked some head-scratching because a majority of the 20 projects are performing well, according to OMB's own yardsticks. But even for projects on a solid footing, the review still provides a chance to find savings, Werfel said in an interview.

"For those agencies that are on a good path right now," he said, "they're going to have a very quick review and will be up and running to do future procurements going forward." If any project is at risk because of a delayed procurement, Werfel said, "we will accelerate the review for that agency."