Defense Integrated Human Resource System was one of government's biggest technology failures
One year after the Pentagon canceled an $850 million payroll system that never became operational, the last of the contractors who worked at the project's New Orleans home base are pulling out.
View full sizeAt its peak, the Defense Integrated Human Resource System employed 330 people at the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park. It marks the end of one of government's biggest technology failures. A system that was supposed to process the payroll for all the military branches never could overcome operational problems and was labeled a "disaster" by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said all the military got out of the expensive effort, which spanned 10 years and was an "unpronounceable acronym": DIMHRS. Gates was replaced Friday as Defense Secretary by Leon Panetta.
At its peak, the Defense Integrated Human Resource System employed 258 workers from Northrop Grumman, the lead contractor, and another 72 from Eventure Technologies, a support contractor, at the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park, according to data obtained by staff for Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson.
The program was based largely at the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or SPAWAR, inside the UNO complex.
The Eventure staffers left several months ago, and the last of the Northrop Grumman employees are departing this week, according to Stephen Bell, Scalise's spokesman.
The termination of the program will have little impact on the number of military staff assigned to the command's New Orleans office, according to Steven Davis, a spokesman for the command.
Still, Bell said the Louisiana congressional delegation is likely to request a meeting with SPAWAR brass to check on the future viability of the command's New Orleans operations.
Despite the unusually candid admissions of failure from Pentagon brass, some department officials have argued in recent months that the project wasn't a total waste of money.
They suggested the research could be helpful as the military works to develop more reliable payroll systems in the future.
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last year, Defense Secretary Gates was pressed to explain why the program was being terminated after so much taxpayer money had been spent.
"Many of the programs that I have made decisions to cut have been controversial within the Department of Defense. I will tell you, this one was not," said Gates, who served as defense secretary for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The project's goal was to adapt off-the-shelf computer software from PeopleSoft, used by many businesses for payroll and human resources data, to process the complex payment and deployment data for all the military ranks. It could be done, other military officers said. .
"Both in my prior life as the head of the Navy and actually even before that, as a budget officer, and certainly through this, this program has been a disaster," Mullen said. The payroll requirements of the military branches proved to be "too complex," he said.
"DIMHRS couldn't get there time and time again," Mullen said.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaking at a hearing last year on Pentagon spending, expressed annoyance when officials couldn't say whether anybody had been fired because of the program's failure.
As for the possible impact on the UNO Research and Technology Park, George Harker, vice chancellor for technology and economic development at the college, said SPAWAR command hasn't revealed plans to move into smaller offices.
"It is not unusual for some programs to end and others to begin for them," Harker said.
Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.857.5131.