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National Fine Center: Expectations High, but Development Behind Schedule

GGD-93-95 Published: Aug 10, 1993. Publicly Released: Sep 09, 1993.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the U.S. Courts National Fine Center's development and operations, focusing on: (1) how the Center should operate; (2) the status of the Center's operations and problems encountered in its five pilot districts; and (3) whether the Center will meet its original objectives.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Administrative Office of the United States Courts The Director, AOUSC, should establish and implement a computer security program for the Center that meets the requirements of the Computer Security Act of 1987. AOUSC should ensure that a computer security plan is developed and implemented to provide security and privacy for the Center's computer security systems that are identified as sensitive systems.
Closed – Not Implemented
Primarily as a result of the report, AOUSC discontinued development efforts of the National Fine Center at Raleigh, and concluded that the project would be too difficult and costly to expand to the remaining 93 judicial districts, mainly because of inadequately developed and documented computer software. In April 1994, AOUSC redirected its efforts to implementing NFC using an off-the-shelf system, and as of September 1995, 40 of the 94 districts were on the NFC system. However, because of congressional and DOJ concerns about the accomplishments and directions of NFC, the Director of AOUSC directed that an independent third party review the NFC. In May 1996, based on this review, and after consulting with congressional staff, DOJ officials and other stakeholders, AOUSC decided to transfer criminal debt processing and accounting back to the judicial districts and to initiate NFC shutdown actions. NFC will not be operational after December 1996.
Administrative Office of the United States Courts The Director, AOUSC, should establish and implement a computer security program for the Center that meets the requirements of the Computer Security Act of 1987. AOUSC should establish computer security training programs for Center and district employees to make them aware of federal and agency computer security requirements.
Closed – Not Implemented
Primarily as a result of the report, AOUSC discontinued development efforts of the Raleigh Fine Center, and concluded that the project would be too difficult and costly to expand to the remaining 93 judicial districts, mainly because of inadequately developed and documented computer software. In April 1994, AOUSC redirected its efforts to implementing NFC using an off-the-shelf system, and as of September 1995, 40 of the 94 districts were on the NFC system. However, because of congressional and DOJ concerns about the accomplishments and directions of NFC, the Director of AOUSC directed that an independent third party review the NFC. In May 1996, based on this review, and after consulting with congressional staff, DOJ officials and other stakeholders, AOUSC decided to transfer criminal debt processing and accounting back to the judicial districts and to initiate NFC shutdown actions. NFC will not be operational after December 1996.
Administrative Office of the United States Courts The Director, AOUSC, should establish and implement a computer security program for the Center that meets the requirements of the Computer Security Act of 1987. AOUSC should ensure that risk analyses are conducted for both the Center's computer systems and the National Fine Center facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Closed – Not Implemented
Primarily as a result of the report, AOUSC discontinued development efforts of the Raleigh Fine Center, and concluded that the project would be too difficult and costly to expand to the remaining 93 judicial districts, mainly because of inadequately developed and documented computer software. In April 1994, AOUSC redirected its efforts to implementing NFC using an off-the-shelf system, and as of September 1995, 40 of the 94 districts were on the NFC system. However, because of congressional and DOJ concerns about the accomplishments and directions of NFC, the Director of AOUSC directed that an independent third party review the NFC. In May 1996, based on this review, and after consulting with congressional staff, DOJ officials and other stakeholders, AOUSC decided to transfer criminal debt processing and accounting back to the judicial districts and to initiate NFC shutdown actions. NFC will not be operational after December 1996.

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Topics

Automated security systemsComputer matchingComputer securityComputer fraudCriminalsDebt collectionFines (penalties)Government collectionsLaw enforcement information systemsSecurity threatsVictim compensation