Computer system delivery disasters: California Automobile Registration System.
$44.5 million spent between 1987 and 1994.
Estimate of $114M and 3 years required to complete.
System junked.
Ralph T. King, Jr. California DMV's computer overhaul ends up as costly
ride to junk heap. Wall Street Journal April 27, 1994, East Coast
Edition page B5.
Bozman, Jean S.
DMV disaster: California kills failed $44M project. (Department of Motor
Vehicles) (includes related article on the history of the DMV's on-line
system) Computerworld v28, n19 (May 9, 1994):1 (2 pages).
Abstract:
The California legislature approves spending $500,000 to investigate
what went wrong with a seven-year, $44 million effort to overhaul the
Department of Motor Vehicles' computer system. It was only recently
learned that the DMV pulled the plug on the effort Jan 1, 1994. Tandem
Computers Inc, which was paid nearly $20 million for hardware and
relational database software, defends its role in the fiasco. Tandem
contends that the problem is a lack of applications for accessing the
database and blames the DMV for poor project management. DMV IS Manager
Glenn Wilson says the effort was hurt by the 1990 withdrawal of
then-project manager Ernst and Young. The DMV will continue to make do
with its aging system that is based on assembler language dating back
to 1965, dumb terminals and IBM Series/1 minicomputers.
Appleby, Chuck; Wilder, Clinton.
Moving violation: state audit sheds light on California's runaway DMV
network project.
InformationWeek, n491 (Sept 5, 1994):17.
Abstract:
A probe by state auditors reveals that the California Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) violated a variety of contracting regulations and
laws and underestimated the cost of the $49 million project to upgrade
the agency's driver's license database. DMV director Frank Zolin
terminated the six-year project after the emerging database system was
found to be three times slower than its 1960s version. Gov Pete Wilson
requested the audit, and he immediately ordered a ban on offering state
contracts to only one bidder. The DMV project contract was with Tandem
Computers Inc, but the computer firm is not being investigated for
wrong-doing. The initial database project started in the late 1980s
when the DMV started deploying a Tandem relational database that was
unproven. Four state agencies are currently investigating the DMV for
potential conflicts of interest by state officials.
Webb, Gary.
DMV's $44 million fiasco: how agency's massive modernization project was
bungled. (California Dept of Motor Vehicles)
San Jose Mercury News (July 3, 1994):1A (2 pages).
Abstract:
Mercury News investigators have discovered that the bungled $44 million
Dept of Motor Vehicles/Tandem Computers Inc project to modernize the
DMV's databases was in trouble from the very beginning, according to
internal DMV and records. A number of the bureaucrats who decided to
award the contract to Tandem also went through the revolving door to
accept jobs and consulting contracts with the company after leaving the
DMV. The whistleblower who tried to prevent the loss of taxpayers'
money by ordering an audit, DMV deputy Dir Ron Kuhnel, was actually
removed from his position as head overseer of the State's computer
contracts by Gov Pete Wilson days after the audit was release. Wilson
replaced Kuhnel with a consultant who had formerly been employed by
Tandem on the project, and this man told Kuhnel a month later that his
deputy director position was being eliminated.
Danielle, Diane.
The big fix. (government computer project mistakes are not worse than in
the private sector) (Column)
Network Computing v5, n8 (July 1, 1994):141 (2 pages).
Pub Type: Column.
Abstract:
The recent failed attempt by the California Department of Motor Vehicles
to develop a mainframe-based license and vehicle registration database
is not exclusively a problem of government incompetence. These
problems, including mismanagement, cost overruns and system defects,
happen in most organizations, public and private. Too many companies
believe that a brand new information system, implemented with a massive
technology overhaul, will be good for the company. Large companies also
invest their information system strategies in technology that is not
fully mature yet. This is not a good idea, because the corporate
strategy and the information systems strategy may be different in the
future. In many cases, smaller adjustments and updates can be more
beneficial than huge overhauls. However, huge overhauls remain popular
because they seem more promising and gain more attention.
Appleby, Chuck.
Agency's drive to nowhere. (California Department of Motor Vehicles'
database development project halted)
InformationWeek, n479 (June 13, 1994):72.
Abstract:
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has completed an internal
investigation of mismanagement and cost overruns in the stalled
development of a relational database system to update the current
system. The investigation's report concludes that the IT department and
its manager must take the majority of the blame for spending some $44
million on the six-year development effort, which has produced a
relational database technology that cannot handle the number of
transaction requests of 40,000 users, which are sometimes as high as 30
per second and 1 million per day. DMV director Frank Zolin stopped the
project when he discovered that the agency would need to spend another
$100 million and would require four more years to have the system
totally operational. The IT department manager is being blamed for
conflict of interest because he left the DMV and worked for the company
that was eventually awarded the contract. He then returned to the DMV
to oversee the project.
Webb, Gary.
DMV-Tandem flap escalates. (California Department of Motor Vehicles,
Tandem Computers Inc)
San Jose Mercury News (May 18, 1994):1A (2 pages).
Abstract:
Richard Katz, chairman of the California Assembly Transportation
Committee, calls on Gov Pete Wilson to put state computer chief Steve
Kolodney on leave. It has recently been learned that Kolodney was hired
by Tandem Computers Inc as a consultant after he approved a $44 million
computer project at the Dept of Motor Vehicles involving Tandem. Tandem
was paid $16.5 million for its participation in the project, which was
recently abandoned. Spokesman H.D. Palmer of the Dept of Finance, which
supervises Kolodney's job as chief of the state Office of Information
Technology, gives Kolodney a strong vote of support. Kolodney and
former DMV computer expert Dennis Walker, who later went to work for
Tandem, have both refused to testify under oath before Katz' committee.
The state's Fair Political Practices Commission has warned Kolodney at
least twice about possible conflicts of interest.
Langberg, Mike.
Obsolete computers stall DMV's future. (California Department of Motor
Vehicles)
San Jose Mercury News (May 2, 1994):1D (2 pages).
Abstract:
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) tells legislators that
the agency's attempt to implement a computer system is a failure. The
project has already cost taxpayers $44 million, and a replacement
system could cost as much again. The system was planned in 1989, and in
1990, the DMV fired Ernst & Young, which had been hired to supervise
the implementation. Thereafter, the agency proceeded on its own. The
agency's database is very large, consisting of 110GB of driver's
license records and vehicle registrations, and the IBM minicomputers
being used are out of date. Police need immediate access during traffic
stops, and the DMV has promised that its system will never be down for
more than two minutes. Making changes in the existing system is
difficult and time consuming, and in some cases, changes are not
possible. Moreover, new demands are expected soon that are likely to
overwhelm the system. An industry executive says the only thing to do
is start over. The most important part of such a process, he says, is a
system's design.
Langberg, Mike.
Tandem says it warned DMV; agency urged to get outside managers, execs
claim. (California Department of Motor Vehicles)
San Jose Mercury News (April 30, 1994):12D.
Abstract:
Executives at Tandem Computers Inc say they advised the California
Department of Motor Vehicles to seek help with a project to implement a
new computer system. The DMV now admits that its $44 million project
has failed. DMV officials say they are primarily responsible, but they
say Tandem and Ernst & Young, the consulting company, should share in
the blame. Ernst & Young was supposed to oversee the project but was
dismissed by the DMV in 1990. Tandem says it warned the DMV in 1991 and
again in 1993 to revise its plans, but the DMV decided to proceed on
its own. As the matter now stands, a Tandem computer at the state data
center in Sacramento is filled with records that are not accessible
because software was never developed to connect the computer with
terminals in DMV field offices.
Langberg, Mike.
Failed DMV project a PR headache. (botched California Department of
Motor Vehicles computer systems modernization project causes public
relations problems for Tandem Corp)
San Jose Mercury News (April 27, 1994):1F (2 pages).
Abstract:
Tandem Computer Corp's involvement in a failed $44.3 million California
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) computer systems modernization
project is proving to be a public relations nightmare for the company.
DMV officials are blaming some of the project's suppliers for the
fiscal fiasco, including mainframe computer supplier Tandem Computer. A
Tandem spokesperson reports, however, that the firm delivered the
systems specified in its contract with the state. The botched project
came to light on Apr 25, 1994, when DMV Dir Frank Zolin appeared before
the state Legislature's Transportation Committee to request an
additional $7.5 million to fund a new modernization initiative. The
original initiative, begun in 1989, was to have updated the DMV's flat
file data base system to a more modern relational model. The system
conversion proved more challenging than originally anticipated and was
ultimately abandoned by the DMV.
Webb, Gary.
Computer work lost millions, DMV admits. (California Department of Motor
Vehicles)
San Jose Mercury News (April 26, 1994):1A (2 pages).
Abstract:
The California Department of Motor Vehicles tells a shocked legislative
committee that the agency has spent $44.3 million on a computer system
that does not work. The problem emerged when the DMV asked a Ways and
Means subcommittee for an additional $7.5 million to be spent on its
data base of driver's license and vehicle registration information. The
DMV began work on its project in 1988, but the agency now admits that
no components are in place, adding that the approach the was originally
proposed will never work and should be abandoned. The Legislative
Analyst's Office suggests that the failure may have been caused by
mismanagement and lack of technical expertise. A consultant who has
been working with the DMV blames the situation on 'a reluctance to kill
a runaway project.' Assemblywoman Valerie Brown (D-Santa Rosa)
characterizes the waste of time and money as her 'worst nightmare of
government.'.
Government DB procurement. (talk by The Government Technology Group
Inc.'s David R. Lema on the California Department of Motor Vehicles'
procurement of data base hardware and software system) (Database World:
A... Computer Conference Analysis Newsletter, n260 (July 30, 1990):7.
Sperling, Ed.
IBM boosts proprietary, Unix transaction processing efforts: shows
positive tests versus rival Tandem. (Tandem Computers Inc.)
Computer Systems News, n469 (May 28, 1990):3 (2 pages).
Abstract:
IBM re-ran a 1988 benchmark test that compared transaction processing
speeds of its mainframes to those of Tandem Computers Inc. Transaction
processing is a key function of large mainframes. Tandem has been using
the 1988 benchmark test results to promote its NonStop VLX machine over
IBM's 3090 400S after the California Department of Motor Vehicles
published a report indicating Tandem's computers were much faster and
cheaper than IBM's. IBM, however, said that testers did a poor job of
configuring the system and the test results were inaccurate. The
company reran the test using their IBM 3090 180J machine against the
new Tandem Cyclone mainframe. The tests concluded that the IBM machine
performed 30.5 transactions per second compared to 30.4 for the Tandem
computer. Industry analysts, however, criticized IBM's marketing ploy
and a DMV spokesperson indicated that the agency will ignore the new
test results.
Campbell, Gordon.
Tandem sets new mark for on-line market. (Tandem Computers Inc.'s
Nonstop Cyclone Mainframe Computer) (product announcement)
Computing Canada v15, n23 (Nov 9, 1989):1 (2 pages).
Pub Type: Product announcement.
Abstract:
Tandem Computers Inc introduces its powerful new line of mainframe
computers, the Nonstop Cyclone system. Benchmarks for the
multi-processor system were established by the California Department of
Motor Vehicles in 1988. In that application, the five-processor Cyclone
handled the benchmark that required 28 VLX processors. The system
employs a combination of chips, including emitter-coupled logic,
transistor-transistor logic and complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor. It runs at a faster clock speed than the VLX system, and
utilizes deep pipelining and dynamic branch prediction technology to
execute two instructions in a single clock cycle. Tandem claims a
factor of four price/performance edge over other systems. The
entry-level Model 904E, which includes four processors, 128MBytes of
memory and 1.3GBytes of disk, will cost $3,291,750 in Canada. The
top-of-the-line Model 908, with eight processors, 256MBytes of memory
and 56.9GBytes of disk, will cost $8,665,800.
Savage, J.A.
Tandem wins bid for state vehicle database. (Tandem Computer Inc.)
Computerworld v23, n23 (June 5, 1989):23 (2 pages).
Abstract:
Tandem Computers Inc won a head-on battle with IBM to develop a $5
million relational data base for the California Department of Motor
Vehicles. The data base will keep track of 50 million records on motor
vehicles kept by the department in offices throughout the state. In
addition to the relational DBMS development, Tandem bid $10 million to
supply the state with its 28-processor VLX system that runs Nonstop
SQL. IBM put in a bid of $23 million for its 3090 400S mainframe
computer running its DB2 relational product. In seven benchmark tests
run by the state, Tandem passed six, but IBM passed only two. The
Tandem system will replace a 20-year-old Sperry Univac mainframe now
used by the state.