Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Company sets April deadline to fix IT
Northrop Grumman has a $2.3 billion contract to overhaul the state's computer systems.
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From The Roanoke Times
RICHMOND -- A corrective plan filed by the private company hired to overhaul Virginia's computer systems indicates that most of the work is now expected to be completed by April.
Earlier this summer, after Northrop Grumman Corp. failed to meet a June 30 deadline for finishing the work, state technology officials instructed the company to submit an updated work plan.
The company's 10-year, $2.3 billion contract, inked in 2005, has come under intense scrutiny in recent months amid reports of cost overruns, delays and state employee dissatisfaction with technology services.
Coupled with those issues were questions about the departure of Lem Stewart, the former chief information officer for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency who was removed from his job in June after suggesting that a $14 million payment be withheld from Northrop Grumman. There were also questions about the multiple roles that state Technology Secretary Len Pomata played with VITA.
VITA is an independent agency that was created to consolidate and manage the computer systems of executive branch agencies. It is governed by an oversight board appointed by the governor and the General Assembly.
In addition to his Cabinet job, Pomata serves on the Information Technology Investment Board and filled in as VITA's interim chief information officer after Stewart left. A new CIO, George Coulter, was hired in August.
The 40-page plan filed Friday with VITA notes that meeting the new timetable will require cooperation from state agencies. Work is to be done by March 31, but three additional months are allowed.
"To execute this plan, Northrop Grumman will ask each agency to formally accept its schedule and acknowledge its commitment," the document reads.
Del. Sam Nixon, R-Chesterfield County, who has sponsored legislation dealing with state technology, said that while he is disappointed in the pace of the project, he thinks another year sounds about right to complete the work.
