FBI chief admits failure in IT upgrade project
Agency may need to scrap Virtual Case File system.
FBI Chief Robert Mueller on Thursday admitted in congressional testimony that he did not adequately oversee a failed, multimillion-dollar technology system.
But Mueller also blamed the department's contractor, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), for mismanaging the Virtual Case File project.
"In addition to our shortcomings in overseeing this project ... the contractor responsible for VCF bears some responsibility," Mueller said in written testimony to the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department.
The VCF system is a software program that was supposed to help FBI agents better manage their case records.
In written testimony, SAIC Executive Vice President Arnold Punaro rejected the FBI's assessment. "The product we presented to the FBI in December 2004 is not the product evaluated by the Aerospace Corporation," he wrote. Aerospace was hired to assess the system.
In a report issued Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine called VCF "the FBI's most troublesome IT challenge" in its Trilogy project to upgrade the bureau's technology backbone.
"After more than three years and $170 million expected to be spent developing the VCF, the FBI has not provided a clear timetable or prospect for completing the VCF," Fine concluded.