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FBI's New Info-Sharing Software Project Fails

Posted by michael on from the you-lose-some-you-lose-some dept.

Spy Handler writes "After 4 years and half a billion dollars, FBI's attempt to create new information sharing software - called Virtual Case File - simply didn't work.

6 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Federal Cost Savings by Sgt+O · · Score: 5, Funny

    To the Feds -

    Come look for me the next time you need something that does not work. I would be happy to deliver it for the bargain basement price of only $100,000,000.

  2. Government software project fails?! by Pandion · · Score: 5, Funny

    Inconceivable!

  3. Accountability by savagedome · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since the attacks, Congress has given the FBI a blank check, allocating billions of dollars in additional funding.

    And that blank cheque is the problem. Whatever happened to accountability? It's the tax payers money to begin with.

    --


    Free XBox, PS2
  4. Lemme guesss sum1 like EDS or Accenture was @ it by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Having worked at Andersen Consulting little more than a decade ago and seeing the dismal IT failures of EDS has had in England, when I here of vast amounts of money wasted on failed IT projects these companies immediately come to mind.

  5. Re:half billion? by musikit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i think you fail to see how a gov project works.

    steps to gov project.
    1. create team of 4-5 people to outline requirements
    2. get team staff of 2-3 to support them
    3. get place for them to work for up to 2-3 years developing requirements
    4. subcontract out requirements analysis to someone
    5. hire subcontractor to verify requirements analysis by the first.
    6. hire gov people to oversee both contractors
    7. hire people to support people overseeing subs.
    8. release requirements out for public "auction"
    9. review company responses to "auction" by s team of 12-20 people
    10. hire crew to support 12-20 people on the responses review.
    11. except bid.
    12 start project.

    there you have approximately 100-200 people working on just ensuring the requirements documentation and bid for 3-4 years before a project even starts. that alone could cost 200 mil or more.

    they got off cheap.

  6. Re:Fraud? by SparafucileMan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Because it's possible to know that the car is busted in advance of the sale. The software issue is equivilent to the government giving you a contract for designing a new car from scratch. And if in the process of the designing the new car from scratch, not everything worked as forseen, that wouldn't be theft. Look at the defense industry. They get a contract for $X. Every few months or year the project is reviewed and if problems creep up, the Pentagon gives more money. If in the process they figure out that they're attempting the impossible, the Pentagon absorbs the bill.

    That's how it works. You can't ask someone to provide a bid for a thing that isn't designed or built yet, then throw them in jail if their bid isn't 100% accurate. Good luck finding bidders! Your analogy to a car is just fucking retarded.