FBI seeks extra funding to avoid delays on tech upgrade

The FBI's $425 million effort to upgrade its case management system is at risk of delays if Congress does not provide additional funds in the next stopgap spending measure, the bureau's chief told lawmakers Wednesday.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller said the bureau needs $157 million to begin the second phase of building the system, known as Sentinel, in February as planned.

President Bush included $100 million for the project in his fiscal 2007 budget request. According to Mueller, the Office of Management and Budget has helped the FBI find the additional $57 million, using funds left over from the first phase of the effort and unspent balances in other accounts.

The House version of the fiscal 2007 Science, State, Justice, Commerce and related agencies spending bill, which includes FBI funding, meets the administration's $100 million request. But the Senate version provides an appropriation of only $40 million. The bill has yet to be completed.

The Senate did not grant the full request because the FBI failed to fully respond to a March 24, 2006, letter from the Judiciary Committee relating to the bureau's modernization efforts. Language in the report accompanying the appropriations bill stated that the funding levels would be reconsidered if FBI officials answer the committee's outstanding questions.

The current continuing resolution to keep money flowing to agencies in the absence of final fiscal 2007 appropriations is set to expire Dec. 8. Agency officials have asked that when lawmakers extend it, they provide $80 million for Sentinel.

Spending levels in continuing resolutions usually are set at the lower of the Senate or House-passed or fiscal 2006-enacted levels. But the FBI requested an exception to that rule, according to a bureau spokeswoman.

Sentinel, a six-year effort to replace the failed Virtual Case File project, is intended to upgrade the FBI's old-fashioned paper-based system for managing investigations and information. Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $57 million task order in March to work on the first stage of the program, with options to earn $248 million for three additional phases.

"We would be prevented legally from going into the contract [for the second phase] if we don't have the $157 million," Mueller said. "It would help if Congress included the $100 million in the continuing resolution."

Mueller said Sentinel has not had cost overruns or budget shortfalls and the total estimate for the project has not changed. He said the FBI has learned from the mistakes made with the Virtual Case File project.

A Justice Department inspector general report released Monday found that the FBI is exercising more control over the development of Sentinel, but maintained that the funding and cost estimates remained uncertain.

"I believe everybody believes that this project is a good one. We do need the money to go forward," Mueller said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said it is highly likely that the $100 million figure would have been the final amount in a conference report. Lawmakers' failure to finish the appropriations bills, he said, "is a highly deplorable situation."