Fairfax County Settles Contract Dispute with AMS.

• Position: New Briefs

* Fairfax County, Virginia, recently received the first $2 million of an estimated $8 million contract settlement with American Management Systems Inc., the software giant headquartered within the county's borders. The county hired AMS five years ago to upgrade its computerized records of personal property tax payments. After four years of development, however, tests of software prototypes were plagued by glitches, including wrong addresses for some taxpayers and erroneous taxes for others. Frustrated by the system's lack of "functional integrity," the county...