Delayed again -- troubled immigration processing system encounters new hurdles

The long-delayed launch of a troubled $1.7 billion online system for reviewing immigration applications has been postponed indeterminately because the tool is not functioning properly, according to internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memos reviewed by Nextgov. USCIS officials as recently as last month told auditors the Transformation project would be online in December, but now the new impediment may increase already rising costs, the auditors say.

The tool is supposed to digitize the currently manual review of applications for legal residency at a time when immigration reforms threaten to overburden case officers. Agency officials had announced a December unveiling, but earlier this year they scaled back the release to one form for visitors requesting extensions to stay in the country.

"The number of critical and high defects identified is at 275 and going up," an internal presentation given by Transformation Support Division Chief Bruce Cavey noted. "It is with the continued dedication displayed by [program staff] that we will fix, test, fix, retest until we have a quality release product."

As of Nov. 27, of 1,447 total test cases for the one form, 387 had failed while only 381 cases had passed, according to the slides viewed by Nextgov. The other cases are either blocked or awaiting testing.

Agency officials on Friday said deployment for the first form is now slated for sometime early next year.

"USCIS has developed and is now testing its new electronic immigration system, part of a comprehensive effort to transform USCIS from a paper-based agency to an electronic, online organization," USCIS spokesman Chris Bentley said in a statement. "As is typical during the testing phase, technical problems are identified and resolved prior to release."

He added that the agency is focused on delivering "a quality release" for the first offering because it will lay the groundwork for all future system features.

The setback follows a harsh Nov. 22 Government Accountability Office assessment that concluded the USCIS' miscalculation of expenses, time frames and system requirements has contributed to a cost overrun of nearly $300 million since 2008 before automating even a single form.

On the same day GAO officials released their findings, Transformation Coordination Office Chief Gerri Ratliff sent a memo to USCIS employees who will be using the tool, stating, "I want to share with you that given the time it is taking to resolve the issues we are identifying during the testing phase, and our commitment to roll out only a quality first release, we are postponing the training and are likely to postpone the December launch."

The holdup may further drain funding, GAO officials said on Friday. "Some program costs such as labor, supervision, and facilities cost more if the program takes longer," said Richard Stana, GAO director for homeland security and justice issues. "This underscores why reliable schedules are critical for keeping projects on time and within budget."

The audit, which concluded earlier in November, reported that USCIS "officials indicated that they have confidence" in meeting the December deadline for the first release. Still, GAO noted that should development, testing or deployment processes slip again, the project could slide further off course.

The total projected cost of the undertaking has whipsawed from $3.4 billion in 2007 to $500 million in 2008 and now $1.7 billion, with years to go before fully operational in 2014.