Audit faults VCF management

An inspector general blames Virtual Case File's stumbles on poor management and inadequate oversight.

A Justice Department audit released today blames the collapse of the FBI's Virtual Case File program on design modifications during the project, poor management decisions early in the project, inadequate project oversight and bad information technology investment practices.

Virtual Case File is part of the bureau's Trilogy modernization effort. The application was originally due December 2003, but only one-tenth of the system's planned capability has been completed by contractor Science Applications International Corp., an FBI official said in January.

An FBI press release states that based on preliminary review, bureau officials agree with the inspector general's conclusions.

"In many ways, the pace of technological innovation has overtaken our original vision for the VCF, and there are now products to suit our purposes that did not exist when Trilogy began," bureau Director Robert Mueller said in a statement.

FBI officials have fundamentally changed how they manage IT at the bureau, he added.

A Senate hearing on FBI modernization has been scheduled for today.