FBI's Trilogy delayed

The final phase of FBI's modernization project has been delayed because the contractor missed a deadline, General Services Administration officials announced.

Officials at Computer Sciences Corporation, who were working on the information presentation of the three-phased Trilogy modernization project, failed to meet a "critical delivery date," GSA officials said this week. The missed deadline means the Virtual Case File system, an online system on the Trilogy network that will allow agents to search, analyze and compile case information, will not be deployed by Dec. 13, 2003, as planned.

GSA officials said they are working with the company and the FBI to determine a corrective course of action, officials said. Meanwhile, FBI officials are continuing to train employees on the technology upgrades.

GSA officials will also work with CSC to ensure they deliver the contracted services, officials said. "While we are disappointed with the missed deadline, GSA is fully committed to working with the FBI and CSC to ensure the successful completion of the FBI's information technology upgrades," Bob Suda, Federal Technology Service assistant commissioner for IT solutions said in a statement.

Less than three weeks ago, the Justice Department inspector general's office warned of potential stumbling blocks with Virtual Case File. In his Oct. 14 report, Inspector General Glenn Fine said that technical requirements have not been defined for the system's second and third releases, which could pose a problem.

"The lack of technical, cost and schedule baselines not only creates uncertainties for how much the [system] will cost and when it will be completed, but also how it will perform upon implementation," Fine wrote in the report.

Trilogy's first phase was completed with the deployment of more than 21, 000 new desktops, printers and scanners to FBI workstations. The second phase, the wide area network to 595 sites, including 622 local area networks, 2,600 switches and routers and 291 services, was finished in March.

This week's announcement marks at least the second delay for a high-profile CSC federal project in recent months. In late July, the Internal Revenue Service said the launch date would be pushed back for the taxpayer database at the center of its Business Systems Modernization program, whose prime contractor is CSC.