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
NGSux is there a copy of the contract available somewhere online?
I find it hard to believe NG would just hand the state two data centers and all the transformed infrastruture. I understand the circuits can be signed over but there is still level of effort to do this.
As you probably, these NG data centers are only partly dedicated to state operations as the rest of the capacity is intended for other ventures outside of Virginia State government. I guess the State can setup shop in barn or something, but would be better off if they did.
Wally, you need to read the contract a little more in detail. All of the infrastructure goes back to the State, no charge buddy. The old network wasn’t owned by the State either. The MPLS circuits suck anyway but the contract can easily be signed by the State, NG doesn’t own them, nor operate them, Verizon, MCI, etc does.
Was the State duped, yep, we agree on that! But it doesn’t need a full Brinks truck to dump this contract for the benefit of all of the citizens of the Commonwealth!
We are constantly told that NG needs to “grow the revenue stream from this contract, our jobs depend on it”... doublespeak for “charge them even if its wrong.“
The State should burn this leech off!!
Perhaps there are no contractual penalties to reverse this but the costs would be staggering. The state no longer has a data center, doesn’t own the circuits that connect the sites and doesn’t own a large and ever growing percentage of the pc and server hardware. As us IT folks already know, the only thing the state owns is the network cabling in the walls.
NG was smart when it set this contract up in that they made it difficult for Virginia to get out of. A lesson they learned from their Texas contract where they didn’t own the infrastruture and IBM walked in and took over promptly. VITA was duped and now we are stuck unless we have a brinks truckload of money to throw at this.
This idea was a grand concept that has went horribly wrong. We are told “if in doubt, use the chargeback codes, we can rekey later” but anytime you ask there is never a reply but we are constantly questioned about time that isn’t charged back to an agency!! NG is raping VA out of a lot of money at a time that the Commonwealth is laying off workers!
The State has the opportunity to get out of this contract without any fees at the end of this month, wonder why Lem was canned now? JLARC should look into this as much as anything.
Thank goodness. This extortion (overbilling) has gone on way too long. JER1234 - I agree the should talk to the end users throughout the state and get a feel of the ridiculous support and fees for the smallest things, for instance if you order software from a vendor you there is also a charge from VITA . . .just to order it!!! This is just one example. VITA does has been a joke since the inception. They generate little or no monies. They little or no influence on state agency IT implementations and they are usually just in the way. A total waste of taxpayers money. As far as NG support . . they don’t have a clue. They have not me any of their major milestones and probably wont’, but they keep billing the state. This whole thing needs to go away and let the agencies run themselves and be accountable from a board. NG/VITA is a total waste!!!
This is a start but it should be a investigative body that is independent of all the politics and back door dealing that has gone on in this contract. Hopefully this board will talk to some of the end user lower level employees who must utilize VITA/NG services. It wouldn’t take but 15 minutes in front of this panel to show how screwed up the state IT structure is. Then all that would need to be done is fire and jail all the major participants. Instead they will say VITA/NG is doing the best they can with what they were handed. The state agencies will have to cooperate more with the transition and everything will remain the same. you heard it here first.
James F. McGuirk II is cupable in this fiasco as well and should be canned along with the rest of the ITIB!
Save the taxpayers some money and fix this problem now. This deal is a white elephant and should be nixed!
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