IG Faults FBI Data System
Despite over three years of work and more than $300 million in taxpayer dollars, it is no longer clear when the FBI will develop a computer-based system for managing investigations or how much it will cost, the Justice Department's inspector general concluded in a report released Wednesday.
CongressDaily reported that FBI officials plan to request congressional approval to reallocate funds from other information technology programs in order to continue work on the Sentinel investigative case management system, which was launched to move agents from a paper-based system to a computer-based one, Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a blistering 16-page report.
The program's cost has risen from an original estimate of $425 million to about $450 million and is expected to go higher, while the FBI this month issued a partial stop-work order to the Sentinel prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., the IG report said. "Our concerns about the FBI's ability to complete Sentinel in a timely and cost-effective manner have escalated," the report said. "As of March 2010, the FBI does not have official cost or schedule estimates for completing Sentinel."
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., plans to review the report, a committee aide said. "He has been frustrated in the past with the slow implementation of the Sentinel program," the aide said. "Given the concerns that the report raises about the shifts in costs and the implementation timeline, I expect that he will continue to raise this issue with the FBI." To read more, click here. (Subscription required)
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