Va. Senate panel to investigate VITA
Published: June 16, 2009
Lawmakers will investigate the state's troubled information technology agency, spurred by the removal of its boss and questions about the $2.3 billion Virginia is paying Northrop Grumman for computer services.
A state Senate panel that oversees government operations will conduct the inquiry and report to the Senate Finance Committee, whose chairman, Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, ordered the review.
"I believe the full committee would benefit from a discussion of the issues and allegations," Colgan said in a letter Friday to Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk, head of the general-government subcommittee.
The investigation, disclosed yesterday, follows the removal Wednesday of Lemuel C. Stewart Jr. as director of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. He was dumped after he alleged that Northrop Grumman is failing to provide the state with full computer, software and maintenance services.
"We have nothing to hide, and we have no problem answering the legislature's questions," said James F. McGuirk II, chairman of the Information Technology Investment Board, which voted to drop Stewart from his $189,280-a-year job as chief information officer.
Christy Whitman, a spokeswoman for Northrop Grumman, said the company has "not been contacted about the investigation, but we continue to support the customer," a reference to VITA.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to discuss the controversy engulfing VITA at a meeting Thursday. The money panel will hear from the staff of the General Assembly's watchdog agency, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which has been monitoring implementation of the 10-year contract with Northrop Grumman.
Miller's subcommittee begins its work at a meeting June 29. It was not immediately clear when the subcommittee would turn over its findings to the Finance Committee.
Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights and the JLARC chairman, said the concern about VITA -- an initiative of Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner -- is growing.
"We hoped when VITA came in, it would be a little removed from politics, and I think it's almost gotten to be the opposite," Cox said.
Republicans have expressed alarm over the selection of Secretary of Technology Leonard M. "Len" Pomata as Stewart's temporary successor. They question whether a political appointee of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine can serve simultaneously as head of an agency that, by law, is independent of the executive branch.
Kaine defended the selection and said Pomata will bring to VITA "the skill set that's needed at this point."
Under VITA, the Warner administration envisioned consolidating IT services previously left to individual agencies. The umbrella approach, Warner claimed, could save taxpayers $100 million.
Stewart apparently had expressed concerns for more than a year about the Northrop Grumman contract and had withheld payments to the company, usually in amounts of $600,000 to $700,000, on items such as modifications to VITA offices in Chesterfield and Russell counties and a procedures manual for employees.
Because of his continuing questions about the adequacy of documentation by Northrop Grumman in the bills its submits to the state, Stewart urged freezing a monthly payment of just more than $14 million. That recommendation preceded his removal.
The Northrop Grumman contract, now in its third year, is the biggest privatization pact issued by Virginia government. The contract is financed with fees imposed on agencies for IT services. But the charges are insufficient, resulting in a continuing shortfall -- $6.2 million, according to Stewart's final briefing to the VITA governing board.
The dispute over VITA is being monitored by the gubernatorial candidates, Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell. As legislators, both backed its creation.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or
.
Staff writers Olympia Meola, Jim Nolan and Tyler Whitley contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
Make me CIO I can fix it…
I would bring IT back in-house (state employees with state benefits so they are treated right) with a distributed approach for staff and technology that is agency centric.
With the IT staff embedded back in the larger agencies but managed centrally they would understand what the agencies need and be able to deliver a more viable service. Smaller agencies would be supported by a robust and flexible support group. Centralize procurement and other admin functions as well as any enterprize applications and give the IT staff the lattitude to do their jobs. Vote for me in the next election :)
To sum it up: VITA/NG will not save $ and is less efficient than the previous system.
My little examples: I got a new PC though my old one was fine. The new one will not “keep” (I am no expert) its printer software and it won’t shut down properly. VITA can’t fix it.
We needed a new complex system for audits. We contacted VITA who contacted NG who sub-contracted it out. After almost a year, the system did not work, the programmers from the sub-contractor left and we were told we would have to pay and start from scratch. We notified the Governor’s Office that we were going to hire someone ourselves. It took a college student working part time to do the programming in a few weeks. We wasted time, money and the public suffered for it.
Whoever picks up on this running for Governor and has a concrete plan for getting rid of this mess will most likely get the state employee vote.
What about the bullying tactics the partnership is using to force agencies to transform. Some of these agencies receive grants to procure state of the art equipment and have a higher level of security that the partnership can not meet. The account managers are rude, unknowledgeable, and overpaid (FOIA that). A lot of the VITA managers are making over $100k yr and work from home 2-3 days a week (FOIA that).
Security, where is it? It seems like once an agency goes on the all so wonderful MPLS network they get hacked. I think the Commonwealth had a better track record before this partnership. State agencies have security requirements for this very reason. How does the partnership think they can bypass the security requirements? How many CISSP’s does the partnership need to understand this?
This is an easy fix, get rid of the paper engineers at the CESC and bring back some of the experienced IT staff that was let go! Just because you have the certification doesn’t make you a skilled engineer. They do not teach experience at CPRI, you have to earn it. Get rid of the Customer Account Managers that are RUDE to the customer and replace them with Wal-Mart greeters. The Wal-Mart greeter knows a thing or two about customer service and doesn’t require $80k-$100k a year to do the job. Who is in charge of them? You are FIRED!
Why are the so called engineers at the CESC trying to engineer solutions for agencies they have never visited and they do not understand their business needs. A few of the contractors at the CESC have criminal records, YES THEY DO! This is why many agencies have different security/background requirements. Working at the CESC is not the same as working at State Police, Emergency Management, Corrections, VDOT, or DMV. Unfortunately, the partnership doesn’t think so. We call this ARROGANCE!
Maybe we all need to start posting all of the outages the CESC experiences daily. We all know they can’t failover to the SWESC, because it is broken. Hey, who really needs a failover site in SW, they can continue to use the state of the art facility as a call center. What are they charging the state to water the lawns at these facilities? I did hear a rumor that the Department of Health is in the process on installing a state on the art monitoring system in the CESC to monitor the dangerously high levels of BS. Very weird how the building has a brownish glow when viewed on Google earth. Initially, they installed an EGO monitor but they couldn’t get accurate readings because all the VITA employees couldn’t be found. Maybe they were on the back 9. All the NG employees were trying to restore services.
You can’t rely on the paper engineers to get the CESC outages resolved right away because the Troubleshooting 101 books VITA ordered them have been stuck in the RFS process for 2 years now and they won’t be assigning a project manager to manage the ordering of the Troubleshooting 101 books until next month. What really sucks about this is that by the time they get the books they will be out of date and they will have to start the RFS process all over again. This is your hard earn tax dollars at work. The partnership is well aware of the RFS process and rest assured there is a plan in place. The only problem is that the state pays the price, 3 years and 500 meetings later they almost got a finger on the problems with the RFS process. So in an effort to provide these Engineers with the knowledge they should have had before they were hired the CESC is planning daily outages until there is a change in the current administration, in an effort to get these engineers up to the level of the engineers that were let go.
You can’t be too hard on the CESC or those who try to manage the staff there. The uptime for the year is just over 50%. The agencies that have not been transformed are at 99% uptime.
I am ready for CHANGE, vote for CHANGE!
NGSux and Jer1234 - Procurment Authority for desktop printers up to $1k has been delegated to the agencies for some time now. You can buy as many as you want. Why do you feel the need to slam VITA or NG for that?
Procurement authority might have been encies delegated but purchase veto on ALL computer items rests with NG/VITA. They can and do override an agencies purchase request. Any IT related item MUST go through them and if they don’t like what you buy it is disapproved.
Let us for a moment concide vacitizen’s and motleyfools points. That central ized purchasing and contro; pf IT functions are all it is advertised to be. Then they should be able to show us at lest one large business or government agency with over 25,000 people that follows these principles and does not have the problems that are being talked about. So if all you who support this principle would please show us one place this is working for a large diverse body like the Commonwealth of Virgina and it saves all this money then I and many others might be able quit arguing that the current IT system doesn’t work.
Only a fool (a motley fool :)) would think that there would be a standard operation across 86 agencies. In private industry, a bank does not operate the same way as a hospital or a real estate company, nor should they be expected to.“
I agree. Every agency has different challenges. The cost benefit occurs when all agencies buy pc’s from the same company. Then, instead of agency A negotiating for 10 pc’s and agency B negotiating for 500 you now have one agency negotiating for 510 pc’s. That sale will mean more to a computer company and therefore we will realize savings by buying those machines all at once instead of in a piece meal fashion. You can also leverage your best negotiator instead of relying on a harried system admin who will agree to just about any price as procurement isn’t their strong point.
Motley you again contradict your self in the above statement you posted. Please remember the JLARC’s own report says this contract will not save money.
Sorry I did not get to post earlier, I was not on vacation like Wally and I had to work. Unlike some posting here, I do not use my work computer for personal reasons, be it “incidental or ocassional”.
Wally hit the nail on the head when he said “Seems like there should be a way to streamline this so that one check would meet all the requirements but the agencies won’t work to try to make this more efficient.“ The agencies are not even trying to make this work. They are pissed off because they cannot buy gaming machines for the higher level manager and let the lowly worker bees get buy on one of Jer1234’s window 98 boxes.
Mihknotyu - “the price instantly was increased by several hundreds of dollars once VITA / Grumman fees were added on”. Does your agency have a contract with NG? I thought only VITA has a contract with them. That would mean your agency pays nothing to NG, they pay it to VITA. Complain to VITA about the fees, NG’s are contractual.
NGSux and Jer1234 - Procurment Authority for desktop printers up to $1k has been delegated to the agencies for some time now. You can buy as many as you want. Why do you feel the need to slam VITA or NG for that?
Motely said:
Ngsux - Thanks for the correction. I thought someone would come in, lob an insult, and then correct me. Spreading information is good. ;)
And I reply:
You are very welcome for that information that completely destroyed your assumption about the contract… please read it first before commenting in the future. It just makes you look stupid…
To add about the printer issue, Motely.. you do understand that there are several positions across many agencies that are NOT allowed to print internal documents to network printers (HR, TAX, Internal Audit, VSP, ABC EI agents and even myself on a few occasions, etc..)? It’s not allowed by the Code of Va.
Are you really trying to justify the existence of this contract with NG?
Wally said:
“Only a fool (a motley fool :)) would think that there would be a standard operation across 86 agencies. In private industry, a bank does not operate the same way as a hospital or a real estate company, nor should they be expected to.“
I agree. Every agency has different challenges. The cost benefit occurs when all agencies buy pc’s from the same company. Then, instead of agency A negotiating for 10 pc’s and agency B negotiating for 500 you now have one agency negotiating for 510 pc’s. That sale will mean more to a computer company and therefore we will realize savings by buying those machines all at once instead of in a piece meal fashion. You can also leverage your best negotiator instead of relying on a harried system admin who will agree to just about any price as procurement isn’t their strong point.
Beenthere said:
“NG has been cutting staff and more and more the agency’s application staff has had to handle the duties that have been deigned to be partnership duties.“
As an aside I think some agencies are unclear as to what is their responsibility and what is NG’s. I’ve heard stories of NG contractors being relied upon to perform tasks that are not part of the initial agreement. The inevitable tug of war takes place and it looks bad for everyone. To the statie it looks like NG is shirking a duty. To NG it looks as if state workers don’t want to do their jobs. The clear line of demarcation needs to be drawn so all know clearly what their duties are.
“Perhaps it will bear out to be a satisfactory exercise, only time will tell, but it will not be less expensive by a long shot!“
I completely agree with you there. Virginia state gov’t knew it was sitting on a powder keg of old and outdated technologies. They knew it was going to take a bucket load of money to, at the very least, upgrade everything to modern standards. It won’t be cheap or easy.
Ngsux - Thanks for the correction. I thought someone would come in, lob an insult, and then correct me. Spreading information is good. ;)
Jer1234 said:
“An obselete printer that is working is better than one that is not working. A printer in an office on a desk is better than one that is 3 floors away and is used by everyone. If the single printer breaks then all people are out of work. Single printers are less efficient to use than one at a desk.“
At no point did I mention broken printers vs. desk printers. Nor did I mention one printer 3 stories away. You’re right, the way you’ve framed that scenario it doesn’t make sense. Most communcal printers I’ve seen serve about 10 cubes, work for years, and often require very little maintenance. This plan works so well it’s typically the corporate standard. Now, if by “efficient” you mean “It helps the worker to not have to get up from their desk except for smoke breaks, bathroom visits, socializing, etc.“ then you’re right. By that definition of efficiency you are correct.
“So you are telling me that a 1.6 Ghz computer with a 80 Gb ghard drive won’t run Windows XP. Nest time get all the facts before you make this kind of statement.“
From a technical perspective that computer will run Windows 7. From an I.T. support position it’s much easier to support 10 machines of the same exact type than 5 machines that are all different. Ask a desktop tech responsible for over 50 machines which he’d rather deal with when it comes to software rollouts, driver upgrades, etc. Same machines are easier and more efficient to support than machines of various vintages and configurations.
Suey: don’t be such a pig! (jk’ing)
Bottom line is the bottom line- Outsourcing was done to save money and its not happening. The customers of IT in the commonwealth of VA have increased costs and inferior service. The business case for this being outsourced is not there! The facts are not supporting the reasons this was done so why keep throwing good money after bad. NG is not a bad company, it has just underestimated the magnitude of this project. Cudos to everyone on the partnership for trying to make this idea work as the governor and ITIB have requested, they have been working really hard on a fruitless effort.
I for one am thankful the RTD publishes information about this. It gives the consumers of this service a place to express concerns about the support they are getting and trying to get this story in front of the public. They have the right to be informed.
By the way I am on vacation this week so my time is mine to waste!
BW- Yes NG has a shipbuilding sector of which the yard in Newport News is a part of. What has been done for years in the shipbuilding industry is to bid on the base work low to win the contract and then make up for it in change orders that elevate the cost of the base contract, claiming the base contract is flawed in the area of the change order or to say its new work. If you get the chance google USS San Antonio. It’s another area where your tax dollars are being sucked up with a 1 billion dollar overrun and a new ship that is a lemon.
Suey- I can’t speak for anyone else, but, for me andall the folks i’ve spoken with, we don’t want the partnership to fail; we want our agencies and the state to succeed. You’re throwing around general inflammatory terms and most are giving direct examples of what’s not working. In my opinion, the idea of a single agency to oversee IT expenditures and practices is not a bad idea. The problem is that they privatized it and Northrup Grumman is trying to maximize their profits as any business should. The privatization is the problem and what has caused all of the cost over-runs.
Moreover, wanting them to fail is not the issue. We want them to first and foremost live up to the terms of the contract; which most, if not all agree has not come close to meeting. Secondly, the cost of the same equipment / services as pre-VITA/NG should not be 3x what it was before. Do your homework - how many times has the General Assembly been asked to approve additional funds because agencies can’t make payments to the partnership? Where are the savings for bulk purchases that were promised? How has the state benefited from the partnership; I don’t know anyone that can name 3 benefits? I’ll settle for 2 if you can list them.
Suey-you’re worrying about if the complainers want the partnership to fail, but, what about the fact that every agency is being asked to cut services and staff? Is that not failing? The Commonwealth is failing because of the budget deficits caused partially by VITA / Northrup Grumman.
A printer per pc is a large waste of money and technician time. Everyone does not need a personal printer. It increases support calls to techs and complexity. Also, knowing the way printers are sold most would be obselete in a year.
An obselete printer that is working is better than one that is not working. A orinter in an office on a desk is better than one that is 3 floors away and is used by everyone. If the single printer breaks then all people are out of work. Single printers are less efficient to use than one at a desk.
If the machine is running windows98 a $30 RAM upgrade is not going to bring it into the modern age.
So you are telling me that a 1.6 Ghz computer with a 80 Gb ghard drive won’t run Windows XP. Nest time get all the facts before you make this kind of statement.
No matter how you try to blame the users there is too much proof that this system is not working. Taking VITA out of the mix will only make it worse. Each state agency has its on needs and requirements to do their jobs. One size will not work no matter how you might want it to.
Thank you for calling me a cat as is your usual practice of insulting people. I tried to do this calmly but you are who you are.
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