by CKR
It's hard to know what to say about this, when I think I've said it all already. So I'll repeat, but I'll try to do it in a different key.
Some FBI officials began raising doubts about the bureau's attempts to create a computerized case management system as early as 2003, two years before the $170 million project was abandoned altogether, according to a confidential report to the House Appropriations Committee.
FBI officials said last week that the bureau has undertaken a broad and rapid restructuring that will solve many of the problems outlined in the report. They also said that a new program -- code-named Sentinel -- will rely on off-the-shelf software rather than the kind of custom approach that contributed to many of the problems with VCF."To say we're crawling is inaccurate," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We are building a system from the ground up and have made real progress."
Either they are "building a system from the ground up" or are relying on off-the-shelf software. WaPo is being cute, or they missed the conflict between these two adjacent paragraphs.
I can't resist quoting this, because it's so close to what I surmised:
But according to the congressional report, problems continued to mount as the FBI and SAIC feuded over system requirements, changes and other issues. In June, work stopped on the broader VCF software program to focus on a pilot project. By December, when an outside consultant had recommended scrapping the software in favor of commercial products, the FBI nonetheless moved ahead with the pilot program run out of its New Orleans field office.
And this:
SAIC officials have strongly defended their role in developing the software and have complained about frequent FBI management turnover and design changes -- including 36 to the contract alone.
Now the question is who will be the new contractor. And why SAIC, not primarily a software developer, was chosen in the first place. And whether there is agreement on whether the software will be "off the shelf." And whether there will be agreement on that and other things among the project managers.