By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — A Justice Department’s Inspector General report released Wednesday sharply criticized the FBI for its handling of a yet to be completed case management system that will convert the agency’s criminal records from paper to computers, saying it is still fraught with problems including cost overruns. The report also expressed concern that delays may result in some components of the system being obsolete.
But the FBI quickly shot back with a statement Wednesday, characterizing the report on the “Sentinel Project” as unfair.
“We believe that the interim report does not accurately reflect the FBI’s management of the Sentinel project, and fails to credit the FBI with taking corrective action to keep it on budget,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Moreover, the interim report comes at a time when the FBI has changed its plan for completing the project, and the Department of Justice has authorized us to go forward with our new approach. The report, however, continues to rely on outdated cost estimates that do not apply to the current FBI plan.”
The Inspector General’s 29-page report entitled “Status of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Implementation of the Sentinel Proejct” concluded:
“As of August 2010, the FBI’s Sentinel system is at least 2 years behind schedule and at least $100 million over budget. According to its original system plan, Sentinel was to be fully completed by now. However, only two of Sentinel’s intended four phases have been substantially completed, and some of the most difficult tasks are still to come.”
“The FBI has spent about $405 million for the development of the functionality that it has provided to date, along with aspects of the project that may or may not be implemented depending on a reassessment the FBI is now performing in an effort to complete Sentinel within its defined budget of $451 million.”
“We are also concerned that the longer the full implementation of Sentinel takes, the more likely it is that already implemented hardware and software features will become obsolete.”
