McDonnell orders independent review of 'unacceptable' computer failure

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has announced that an independent commission will be formed to review the weeklong computer failure that affected many state agencies.

The contractor, Northrop Grumman Corp., has agreed to pay for the review of the failure, which McDonnell called unacceptable.

As of Thursday, “all impacted state agencies have had their service restored, and the process has moved to the finalization of access to, retention of, and clean-up of data,” he said in a statement released today.

“The administration, together with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC), will commission an independent review of the information system failures and contractor response that has impacted 13 percent of the commonwealth’s executive branch file servers and 26 of 89 applicable executive branch agencies,” McDonnell said.

“I have spoken personally with Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush," he added. "I expressed to him that extended lapses in state computer services was an unacceptable hardship on our citizens and employees."

The governor said he made it clear that he expects “the best around-the-clock recovery efforts possible in order to reclaim and restore all missing files and data."

The governor said he appreciated the company's commitment to a full and comprehensive recovery from this system failure, and its agreement to pay for the reasonable cost of the independent review “that must take place immediately.”

“I look forward to learning exactly how this occurred, how we can prevent such a disruption in the future, and how we can improve responsiveness and data reclamation if future interruptions occur,” he added.

In a separate statement, Northrop said it “deeply regrets the disruption and inconvenience this has caused state agencies and Virginia citizens. Over the last week, we have deployed significant resources and our staff has worked tirelessly in unison with [Virginia Information Technologies Agency] and our partners to thoroughly verify and restore access to data and restore normal operations to the agencies.”

The contractor added that although the disruption to state government has ended, its efforts to examine the factors that contributed to the initial problem and the lengthy restoration of service is just beginning.