NARA prepares for Bush's e-records.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis - National Archives and Records Administration - George Bush

Will the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) be ready for the estimated 100 terabytes of electronic records the Bush administration will hand over as it exits early next year?

Government auditors and NARA's inspector general warn that a key part of the agency's decade-long, $453 million Electronic Records Archives (ERA) project might not be ready in time to take Bush's e-records, according to FCW.com. ERA has suffered a series of delays and cost overruns, but the base system, with reduced capabilities, began operating in late June.

NARA and contractor Lockheed Martin have said that Executive Office of the President (EOP), the separate system for presidential records, will be available by the end of 2008. However, on May 14, Linda Koontz, director of information management issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee that timeframe is at risk.

According to her testimony, a history of delays with the ERA project, a tight schedule, and negotiations between NARA and Lockheed on the system's specifics and scope of work translate into uncertainty over whether the EOP system will be completed in time. NARA and Lockheed agreed to develop the EOP system and the base ERA system in separate but concurrent increments after issues with contractor performance and software integration caused NARA to issue a cure notice to Lockheed in July 2007, FCW.com said.

At the May 14 hearing, Lockheed spokeswoman Anna DiPaola said the program is still scheduled...