Washington's $50 Billion Tech Plan Derailed By Lawsuit

[OhioChick]

A group of technology service providers are claiming that the U.S. government broke its own laws when it picked contractors for the Alliant program.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
November 16, 2007 12:35 PM


A group of technology service providers are claiming that the U.S. government broke its own laws when it selected contractors to participate in a sweeping technology initiative on which Washington plans to spend up to $50 billion.
Plans for moving ahead with the program, known as Alliant, are now on hold, according to the General Services Administration.

In the lawsuit against the government, one of the service providers, Serco, Inc., claims the federal selection process for the program was "arbitrary and capricious," and did not properly account for vendors' past performance, references, and technical capabilities -- as required by law.

The GSA in August selected a number of high-profile outsourcers, including IBM (NYSE: IBM), Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS), Computer Sciences (NYSE: CSC) Corporation and Lockheed Martin, along with 25 others, to participate in Alliant.

Under Alliant, the government plans over the next 10 years to upgrade computer systems that power everything from Department of Defense networks to crucial, federal communications systems and infrastructure.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203101648

[Turbineguy]

1. The process exists

primarily for the purpose of doling out money, a very distant second is the improvement of government.