FCW Insider: Consolidation blues

We have been hearing for several years now about the struggles atthe Department of Homeland Security to get to one e-mail system andtry and get the 22 agencies together in one location. Geography does matter. The long-range plans call for moving a goodportion of the agency to the campus in Northwest Washington formerlyoccupied by St. Elizabeth’s mental hospital. I can’t even imagine howlong it is going to take to outlive the jokes that will spawn. However, apparently forces inside the agency think it will take awhileto materialize. "Washington Business Journal" reports this week thata customs related DHS agency has taken a 10-year lease forspace in a building on K street. The paper then reported thatas of July DHS occupied 70 buildings in 40 locations across the region. Holy cow. No wonder they have problems integrating people and systems.That’s just in the D.C. area. aa