2009.10.14
Think hard about dropping VITA
A review by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission released on Tuesday is damning of the contract between the commonwealth and Northrup Grumman for information technology services. The company has failed to deliver on many items and state oversight was plagued with poor leadership and insider decisions made behind closed doors in violation of state open meeting laws. Yet canceling the contract would cost $400 million and leave the state without anyone to manage its computers, phones and other technology. (Check out the report.)
We are writing an editorial for Thursday in which we will urge lawmakers to resist sticker shock. Yes, $400 million is a lot of money and if the state dumps Northrup Grumman, it would need to spend even more replacing the company. But if it sticks with the contract, it will incur many other expenses and have no guarantee of better service. We don't yet know which way the state should go, but we do know lawmakers need to weigh both options as they prepare to move forward.
If the state does stick with Northrop Grumman, lawmakers should at least follow JLARC's recommendation to bring technology oversight wholly under the governor where it would be more accountable.
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I knew when this happened several years back that it was a bad idea and would ultimately cause a ton of problems and be more costly. Even the IT folks that got yanked from all other agencies and pushed into VITA could see it coming a mile away. Another prime example of a vital function being pushed out the privatization door, only to wind up botched and more costly than ever planned for. I'm not saying government has a great track record with some of their ongoing debacles, so I guess this just highlights that poor planning, pitiful execution, and lack of oversight for any venture will doom them for failure.
Comment by Other John — October 15, 2009 @ 9:03 am
Someone should call Senator Mark Warner and ask him what to do about this problem. As the shrewd and brilliant governor (or so it was often reported) that brought good business practices back to Virginia when this contract was awarded, he might have the answer.
Comment by waynep — October 15, 2009 @ 9:54 am
Privatization remains one of the dumbest ideas the conservatives ever had. Even if the contract had worked, the State would be locked in to Northrup Grumann forever at whatever price they wanted because it would be too costly to change. Proprietary technology is designed to keep companies or gov'ts from changing to another source.
Comment by Richard — October 15, 2009 @ 10:04 am
Transportation privatization was equally botched under Allen. Private isn't always better.
Comment by gdad — October 15, 2009 @ 10:24 am