Auditor critical of work on state public safety radio system
Bob Brown/Times-Dispatch
Del. R. Steven Landes asked the head of the Virginia State Police, Col. W. Steven Flaherty, “What the heck are you all doing and how can we trust you?“
Virginia’s new Statewide Agencies Radio System is over budget and behind schedule, in part because of poor planning, the House Appropriations Committee was told today.
The system is to bring new computers and radios to State Police cars and allow them to communicate easily with other public safety agencies.
Exasperated members of the budget committee sharply questioned Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the superintendent of State Police, about the report by a state auditor.
“What the heck are you all doing and how can we trust you?“ asked Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta.
The project is expected to cost about $350 million. It was originally scheduled to be finished at the end of this year, but will need another year of work beyond that deadline, officials said.
Among the problems found by the auditor was that the project management team could not determine whether the work was on budget. It also found insufficient review of a consultant’s invoices before payment.
Flaherty said the deficiencies have been corrected and that some were exaggerated.
In other action, the committee received further details of the state’s budget shortfall. All forms of revenue, including withholding taxes, sales taxes and corporate income taxes, are behind estimates, Secretary of Finance Richard Brown said. But he also said there is reason to believe the recession is bottoming out and the revenue picture is brightening.
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Reader Reactions
I don’t see where the problem of being over budget and behind schedule of the STARS can be attributed entirely to Virginia State Police. Of course the project is behind schedule, but is the auditor aware of all the technical difficulties that Motorola has had with this new system?
I can state that I have witnessed a radio system installed by Motorola that doesn’t always work! (thousands of reported problems by Troopers—not an exaggeration!) Yes, a PR stunt with the former governor (Warner) years ago was done to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new radio system, and yes it worked—from that particular location—a rest stop where years ago a Trooper took shots and was unable to communicate with dispatch. However, Motorola has been STRUGGLING to get this new system working in all areas of 2 divisions. (There are 7 divisions within the state). VSP management put a STOP to all mobile (vehicle) installations until Motorola could fix the problem. Obviously if you are going to spend mega bucks on new radios, you don’t want to pay them AND allow them to continue installing questionable equipment. I can’t go into all the technical details, but let’s just say Motorola just wants the money—the heck with Trooper safety.
Consider: 9/11—Motorola radios in NY—fire fighters couldn’t communicate—people died, Florida state had BIG problems with their Motorola system.
The fact is VSP wants a system that WORKS!
What would the politicians consider? Maybe give the STARS system over to VITA/Northrup Grumman? Will they be able to do the installations on schedule? Will we be able to talk? The truth is they won’t care… they’ll have themselves a nice 6GHz microwave system throughout the state. They will in turn lease it out! $$$$$$$$$$$
The answer may be to fire Motorola and give the contract to a reputable local radio company… like M/A Com of Lynchburg, VA They are known to make some good stuff!
A call to the Times Dispatch would be in order to alert citizens that their tax money is being wasted.
Several e-mails and calls were made to the Times Dispatch and the Attorney Generals office. No one wanted to take on Motorola. They, like NG, appear to big to take on. Get the facts before give the Colonel and state employees the blame. They have tried to alleviate the problem but could get no support anywhere. Everyone denied that there was a problem. Just like the NG/VITA contract. Blame the agency.
Motorola is trying to take over the STARS system permenantly. They are upset because they didn’t get a maintenace contract for the system. This system has come close to causing the death of several troopers. Inadequate coverage, radio system not available when needed, robotic voice, computer system that waits till everybody is done talking before it sends and recieves information. The state having to pay for cell phones and additional network cards for the cars in order for the troopers to talk to someone. Guess what it is never going to work will Motorola is involved. They were thrown out of Florida for the same reason that Va system doesn’t work. Everybody is afraid of them and their lawyers because any litigation would be tied up for weeks. Throw them out and start over, it will save money in the long run.
Col. W. Steven Flaherty is a law enforecement officer whose expertise lies in that field: it is illogical for us, and was illogical for the state administration, to rely on him to manage a large scale technology project.
It appears the state administration failed to assign responsibility to a competent technology project manager and Col Flaherty has been left by our part-time governor and full-time DNC chairman holding the bag.
Is Motorola different than any other government contractor? Doubt it. They all try to make to most of an open door. They build a reputation of trust. Then they realize that they have not been taking full advantage of their opportunity. They poke and prod to find increased profit. Once they offer salaries high enough to attract talent, they can take full advantage. Puposely manipulte things to their advantage(free enterprise). They outsmart their “employer”. Maybe, the government should only do business with contractors that use the same background check. Level the playing field. But why eliminate(discriminate)so many contractors from the process? Not going to because of the “kickback” clause. Solution: outsource to a foreign country. It’s the American way.
STARS was implemented with the intention of replacing the 1970’s era state police radio system which had proven to be a safety issue. What has happened since its implementation - on Warner and Kaine’s watches - is that troopers are in more danger under STARS. The system is JUNK and every band-aid Motorola has placed on it HAS NOT WORKED. This has been another absolute failure of BOTH administrations just like VITA.
The Dems blame Gilmore for cutting the car tax and creating great budget shortfalls, yet these two programs have outpriced the car tax cut by far and STILL COUNTING.
I wonder how much flack Del. Landes is going to catch. Example “you we’re telling them to clean up their act with all that scruff on the back of your neck”! Response “I’ve got more hair on the back of my neck than you do on your head, you’re just jealous”! “As a matter of fact, you have more hair coming out of your ears than you do on your head”!
This is so one sided it is ridiculous. Motorola has complained to the GA so much that now they are attacking the Agency instead of finding the real story. Motorola is providing an inadequete system and want paid for it. At one time it was shut down for a year because of Motorola’s performance and lack of quality components. Someone needs to look into this a lot more and talk to someone else other than just Motorola. This system isw as bad as the IT system provided by Northrup Grumann. It has been bad since the day Motorola started work. The people who have to clean up after Motorola are so frustrated it is ridicoulous because they are told just to go along and they can fix it after Motorola leaves.
Look deeper RTD for the true story
With that “pure” backgroung check, I am wondering why there any issues at all. They passed the money problem part. And they passed the education part. And they passed the ethics part. I don’t understand. Maybe the localities did their homework, when they developed their systems, to isolate themselves. A “turf war” of sorts. And perhaps the economy got the localities to look at their turf in a new way. If true, the localities spent a whole bunch of money isolating themselves. Got “in a pinch”, so the state is going to waste a bunch of money figuring out how to link it all up. Who pays for it? The unworthy “citizens” who can’t pass the background check. Ya gotta love it.
Posted by ( Welshwoman ) on June 16, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Having worked in the business I have to tell all of you that the bureaucratic red tape Flaherty has to endure is far worse than you are giving credit for. I agree millions of dollars are being wasted but I can assure you Flaherty has little to do with it. Dishonest contractors looking to drag out work through the tough times, red tape, etc. play the bigger part in it. I assure you, the Colonel has little control over most of it. It takes a team effort and lots of oversight which is hard to find with the manpower shortages in law enforcement these days.
It is Flahertys duty as a public servant to keep the public informed. After all it’s the citizens money that is being wasted. Lack of manpower is not a viable excuse. A call to the Times Dispatch would be in order to alert citizens that their tax money is being wasted.
How many of you can pass a background - no credit problems, no drugs, no criminal history, and so on. Darn few of you - I know - I’ve done the backgrounds!
I am 65 years old and I COULD PASS your background check but what does that have to do with the issue of Flaherty being head of a state agency that is wasting millions of tax money? He must be held accountable along with Governor Kaine if we could keep him in the state long enough to do it.
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