ATF plans new case management system
Next generation case management systems have bedeviled federal law enforcement agencies, with both ICE and the FBI running into trouble.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is planning to replace its legacy case management system with a modern, unified tool that gives investigators and attorneys access to case files, supports their updated business management system, works across mobile phones and tablets, and can support data from the retired system, according to a request for information posted on FBO.gov.
Next generation case management systems have bedeviled federal law enforcement agencies. The FBI's Virtual Case File system cost the agency a reported $170 million before it was cancelled in 2005. This was eventually replaced with the Sentinel system, which itself incurred numerous delays. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently revised its plan for a purpose-built case management system, and is now seeking an off-the-shelf solution.
ATF appears to be taking some of these setbacks into account. The RFI specifies that the planned Next Generation Case Management System be built using agile development methodologies and commercial software. Interested contractors are asked to list their qualifications and certifications in agile.
The bureau's current software dates to 1998, and is divided across four applications – a criminal case management system called N-Force, a regulatory compliance tool called N-Spect, a lead management application dubbed N-Quire, and N-Force Vault, a property and evidence tagging system.
The planned new system will run on the web, use standardized data elements, offer end users geospatial mapping and a dashboard to create and run analytic reports, and interface with systems from other agencies, presumably including those of the Justice Department, ATF’s parent agency, and in particular the U.S. attorneys who prosecute cases.
Law enforcement systems present a complex and particular set of requirements. ATFs are spelled out in a 2,000-plus row spreadsheet that explains the administrative and investigative workflow for developers. For example, the system will have to be able to track requests for arrest and search warrants, associate warrants with particular cases, and obtain electronic signatures to approve such requests. Another section tracks the approval chain for requests for undercover officers.
The system will support attaching audio and video to records of witness and suspect interviews, and link those records to specific cases, along with case notes, transcripts and other media.
The system will manage the use of electronic surveillance equipment, as well as the chain of requests for obtaining court orders to bug suspects.
There's even a lengthy protocol for registering and managing confidential informants through a specialized database with need-to-know access for investigators, supervisors and bureau executives.
Interested vendors have until May 7 to respond to the RFI.