AID Network Goes Down

THE DAILY FED

AID Network Goes Down

After seven months of slow processing time and system errors that frustrated its employees around the world, the Agency for International Development has pulled the plug on the overseas portion of its $71 million computer network, The Washington Post reported today.

AID will keep its overseas network down until the end of September. The agency plans to reevaluate the computer network, called the New Management System, by June 1. Though the system was designed to make it easier for AID to manage its finances and measure the effectiveness of its programs, the project has instead disrupted the agency's work by causing frequent errors and long delays in completing transactions.

An inspector general report said AID set up the system without fully testing it. AID's "high-risk acquisition approach deviated from guidelines," partly because of "underlying organizational and management deficiencies," the IG report said.

AID chief of staff Richard McCall told the Post that the New Management System was "an extremely ambitious" project in which the agency tried to integrate 80 databases and three different accounting systems.

AID's computer problems are the latest in a string of agencies' battles with their financial and information systems. The Federal Aviation Administration, the IRS and the Defense Department have faced serious delays and cost overruns in recent years as they attempt to modernize their computer networks.