Flash audit: 'Serious concerns' about personnel computer fix

Source: AP-Excite

By KEN DILANIAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, the Office of Personnel Management's independent watchdog tried to warn the public about the agency's cybersecurity failures.

Now, the OPM inspector general is sounding an alarm about what it says is the agency's ill-conceived plan to fix some of those problems in the wake of a devastating cybertheft of personal information belonging to millions of federal employees.

In a "flash audit," circulated to Congress Wednesday, the Inspector General Patrick McFarland raised "serious concerns" about a proposed $91 million computer overhaul of OPM networks, saying it had not followed management guidelines and relied on a no-bid contract to a single vendor.

Office director Katherine Archuleta, a former school teacher who worked on President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, told Congress this week that her agency's computer systems were so old they needed an immediate modernization. The antiquated computer architecture, she asserted, was one reason hackers were able to infiltrate the system and make off with sensitive data on millions of federal workers and security clearance holders.

FULL story at link.


FILE - In this June 16, 2015 file photo, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Katherine Archuleta testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The agency that failed to secure data on millions of federal workers is now being criticized by its own independent watchdog over a plan to modernize its aging computer networks. In a {201c}flash audit,{201d} issued Wednesday, the inspector general for the Office of Personnel Management raised {201c}serious concerns{201d} about a proposed $91 million computer overhaul, saying it had not followed management guidelines and granted a no-bid contract with a single vendor. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

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