Lockheed wins FBI Sentinel deal

Contract for $305 million will enhance case management, information sharing and analysis capabilities.

The FBI today awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $305 million contract for a do-over case management system.

As industry sources had predicted last week, the Bethesda, Md., company won the six-year contract for the program known as Sentinel, which supersedes the bureau's failed Virtual Case File system. VCF turned into a $100 million debacle that the FBI had to abandon last March.

Sentinel will deliver an electronic information management system, automate workflow processes and provide an online interface to access and search across multiple databases. The system will help the FBI manage information beyond the case-focus of the existing Automated Case Support, and will provide enhanced information sharing, search and analysis capabilities, the bureau said. Sentinel also will facilitate information sharing with members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities.

"Sentinel will strengthen the FBI's capabilities by replacing its primarily paper-based reporting system with an electronic system designed for information sharing," said FBI director Robert S. Mueller III. "Sentinel will support our current priorities, including our number-one priority: preventing terrorist attacks. At the same time, the system will be flexible and adaptable to address future technological advances and changes in our mission and threat environment."

FBI officials said Sentinel will be developed and deployed over time?in four phases?with each phase introducing new capabilities. Existing information will be migrated to the new system throughout the phases so that selected systems can be retired by the end of the fourth phase.

The award comes on the heels of the Justice Department inspector general criticizing the FBI's plans for how the project will share data. The FBI said it has taken steps to correct the problems the IG has found.

Lockheed Martin's team includes Accenture LLP; Anteon International Inc. of Fairfax, Va.; CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Va.; Computer Science Corp.; High Performance Technologies Inc. of Reston, Va.; Innovative Management and Technology Services of Fairmont, W.Va.; Knowledge Consulting Group of Reston, Va.; Management Systems Designers Inc. of Fairfax, Va.; SI International Inc. of Reston, Va.; The Analysis Corp. of McLean, Va.; and TKC Technology Solutions LLC of Anchorage, AK.