The FBI’s failure to roll out an expanded computer system that would help agents investigate criminals and terrorists is the latest in a series of costly technology blunders by the government over more than a decade. Experts blame poor planning, rapid industry advances, and the massive scope of some complex projects, whose price tags can run into billions of dollars at U.S. agencies with tens of thousands of employees. “There are very few success stories,” said Paul Brubaker, former deputy chief information officer at the Pentagon. “Failures are very common, and they’ve been common for a long time.” The FBI said earlier this month it might shelve its custom-built, $170 million “Virtual Case File” project because it is inadequate and outdated. The system was intended to help agents, analysts, and others around the world share information without using paper or time-consuming scanning of documents. Officials said commercial software might accomplish some of what the FBI needs. The bureau’s mess—the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department and an upcoming congressional hearing—

was the latest black eye among ambitious technology upgrades by the government since the 1990s.

Questions

Some systems like this are very complex. They must have security, and they must interface among the FBI, CIA, and other government agencies as well as state and local law enforcement groups. Such complexity can take years to build and is almost guaranteed to fail because of newer technologies that come along during the wait. How might you keep a complex project on track? What commercial software might work in this case (as mentioned in the case?)