A new computer system intended to streamline Connecticut’s criminal justice system is at “high risk for failure” according to a consultant report uncovered by state auditors and Attorney General George Jepsen.
The Auditors of Public Accounts and Jepsen reported their findings last week in a letter to the CJIS Governing Board, which has statutory authority to oversee the project. A whistleblower report prompted the investigation.
The letter warns of potential delays and cost overruns due to poor communication and management problems.
A report to the General Assembly on July 1 projected the Criminal Justice Information System would be completed in November 2014. A report by MTG Management Consultants issued just weeks later found that projection unlikely to be met.
In their letter the auditors and Jepsen said staff running the CJIS project did not share MTG’s report, a quarterly risk assessment, with the board.
“Central to each of these concerns is our conclusion that the quality of information provided to the board by CJIS staff has been consistently poor,” the letter says, adding there was “a failure by board to meaningfully engage” project staff.
A former chief of information technology for the state raised issues about the project’s leadership three years ago.