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VA Suspends Multi-Million Dollar SAM Program

March 10, 2011 - The Strategic Asset Management (SAM) Information Technology Effort was recently suspended for 5 months, and the contractors associated with the project, General Dynamics and Mitre, were dismissed. The SAM program falls under the Financial and Logistics Integrated Enterprise project and was the only segment not cancelled last July. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Chief Information Officer Roger Baker stated the VA will spend the 5-month suspension period reexamining the path on which the SAM program will go forward.

Baker puts the blame for the SAM program failure on the contractors as well as the government. General Dynamics won a $20.3 million contract in April 2009, for which they were to integrate and customize IBM Maximo asset management software. Mitre's job was to manage the entire program. At the time the VA suspended the program, they had already paid out $16 million to General Dynamics and $10 million to Mitre. The VA has not decided if they will dismiss a third contractor, BoozAllen Hamilton, which was contracted to support project management and has already been paid $22.9 million.

The SAM program failed a user acceptance test in February, which served as the "third strike" against the program. At that point, the VA's Program Management Accountability System mandated the powers that be make a decision on whether to go forward with the project.

The next 5 months will see the VA deciding if continuing with the SAM program is in their best interest, and if agile development can be incorporated into the process. To justify continuing, the VA must more tightly control costs, performances, and deadlines.