FBI went beyond budget and frustrated all deadlines

Problems with the development of budgetary funds are not only with us. The Chief Inspector of the US Department of Justice reported in his report that the budget overruns in the development and implementation of a new computerized FBI case management system exceeded $ 100 million, and the work was two years behind the schedule.

As of August of this year, after $ 405 million of the 451 budgeted program was spent, only two of the four phases of the project were completed, according to a report published yesterday.

“The case management system called Sentinel did not bring much of what was intended, although it provided some improvements,” the report says. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the management of the Sentinel project, thereby reducing the role of the contractor for Lockheed Martin Corp."

“Due to the fact that the bureau did not complete the third and fourth phases of the Guardian project, FBI agents and analysts will not be able to use the planned advanced search capabilities in the files of the federal bureau files,” the report says. "And they will not be able to use the project to manage evidence, as previously assumed."
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“The inspector’s report does not accurately reflect the role of the FBI in managing the project, it relies on outdated estimates and errors in raising funds when the bureau attempted to stay within the budget,” said Thomas J. Harrington, deputy director of the FBI.

“Currently, thousands of FBI employees use the Sentinel in their daily work, including preparing interrogation reports, sending instructions and managing the workload of agents,” said Harrington.
The Guardian was designed to serve as a repository of bureau records and provide agents and analysts, with the help of a web-based system, the ability to manage evidence and automate the analysis of documents. The project has suffered due to repeated delays and has been the subject of criticism in previous inspector reports. The final completion of the final stage of project implementation was planned for 2009, ”the report says.

In the conclusion, the inspector writes that he has “substantial concerns and questions” about the latest attempt by the FBI to complete the project on time, on budget, and with similar functionality that the Guardian project should have previously provided.

via Bloomberg