techpolicydaily.com

WASHINGTON – Ok, maybe it’s not exactly news that the federal government is wasting taxpayer money. But an interesting story from InformationWeek shows just how much money can be wasted when it takes too long to transition to a new technology.

In an interview with InformationWeek, the government’s top IT procurement official says about $20 million in taxpayer money will be wasted this month alone because of the delay in transitioning to a new Networx bandwith administration program. All told, the government is wasting millions in dragging its feet in the Networx switch-over, according to Ed O’Hare, assistant commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service’s Integrated Technology Services division.

There’s definitely some real money going out in the switch-over from the government’s transition off of its legacy FTS2001 network system.

InformationWeek reports that NASA recently awarded a $14.2 million contract to Qwest. The State Department picked AT&T for a $45 million.

Yet it’s not going out fast enough, according to O’Hare. The government first announced the switch from the FTS 2001 network system to the cheaper, more flexible Networx system in 2007. The transition is supposed to be complete by 2010, but that’s likely to be significantly delayed.