[LINK] Big IT projects fiasco number 148

[Jan Whitaker]

>Failed satellite program faced spending, engineering problems.
>
>The http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/washington/11satellite.html New
>York Times (11/11, Taubman) reported on the history of a failed spy
>satellite program called Future Imagery Architecture, to which the
>government allotted $5 billion for development in 1998. There were
>several problematic issues: contractor Boeing lacked experience in
>satellite creation, and part of the proposed design "was so elaborate
>that optical engineers working on the project said it could not be
>built." Further, the government, which was "hobbled by budget cuts
>and the loss of seasoned staff members, lacked the expertise to make
>sound engineering evaluations of its own." As a result, "Boeing was
>given responsibility for monitoring its own work." Review panels
>found the project over budget and flawed, but maintained that the
>program was viewed as an intelligence and security priority. The
>result was "the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year
>history of American spy satellite projects," costing an estimated $18
>billion, and highlights "weaknesses in the government's ability to
>manage complex contracts at a time when military and intelligence
>contracting is soaring."




Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
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Living, like writing, requires no wisdom. Only revising does. - Jim 
Sollisch, Sept, 2007
'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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