NVTC group to assess IT needs at Arlington National Cemetery

Member companies from the Northern Virginia Technology Council will provide assistance in assessing the information technology needs of Arlington National Cemetery, following acceptance in principle of the pro bono offer by the Department of the Army

Fifteen NVTC member companies volunteered to create an assessment group in response to public reports of missing and incomplete records and other record-keeping problems, NVTC said in an announcement dated Aug. 6.

The offer stems from an Army investigation earlier this year that found the cemetery’s record-keeping in shambles, NVTC said.

The Army found burial records on index cards, improperly marked graves and serious difficulties in accurately locating graves in the cemetery.

All these issues persisted despite spending more than $5 million on a program to digitize burial records that has shown no results, the professional IT organization said.

“We are united in our willingness to support Sen. [Mark] Warner in his efforts to remedy this crisis,” George Newstrom, president and chief operating officer of Lee Technologies and former state secretary of technology, said in the announcement.

The 15 volunteering companies are:

ACS, a Xerox Company; Blue Canopy; Booz Allen Hamilton; CACI International Inc.; CGI; Consumer Electronics Association; Corporation for National Research Initiatives; Computer Sciences Corp.; IBM Corp.; Lee Technologies; Maximus; Microsoft Corp.; Mitre; SoltechOne; and Vistronix.