{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-cruz-and-colleagues-demand-admin-accountability-over-botched-software-project-disrupting-fishery-disaster-aid-weather-forecasting", "Sullivan, Cruz & Colleagues Demand Admin Accountability Over Botched Software Project Disrupting Fishery Disaster Aid, Weather Forecasting", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Dan Sullivan", "S001198", "www.sullivan.senate.gov", "sullivan", "https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases?PageNum_rs=11", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and several of his colleagues in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) demanding answers regarding the implementation of the DOC\u2019s new financial management system. This financial management system has disrupted National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) weather forecast operations, delayed financial relief for fishery disasters, particularly in Alaska\u2019s small coastal communities, threatened the availability of safety information for aviators and mariners, and left agency employees without reimbursement for official travel expenses.\n\nNOAA was the first agency to implement the DOC\u2019s new $341 million \u201cBusiness Application Solution (BAS)\u201d program built by Accenture Federal Services. Designed to modernize financial and business management applications, the software\u2019s implementation has resulted in significant system failures, delays, and cost overruns.\n\n\u201cThe first rollout, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in October 2023, has caused a backlog of thousands of unpaid invoices reportedly resulting in a loss of both alerts in tornado prone areas and vital weather information for pilots,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cEven a short-term interruption in vital weather information and alert systems is an unacceptable tradeoff for transitioning to a new financial management system. In addition to these disruptions, there have been unnecessary delays in Fishery Disaster allocations. There are currently seven separate unfunded fishery disaster requests for salmon fisheries alone. This delay has been particularly catastrophic for small communities, like St. Paul Island, Alaska, where the collapse of crab fisheries has had enormous economic impacts. We are concerned what other adverse effects may result if the Department continues to roll out the new system without changes.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is our understanding the Department has been aware of the need for improved transition management for some time,\u201d the senators continued. \u201cOne year after the Department awarded the contract for the new system\u2014known as the Business Application Solution (BAS)\u2014the DOC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a Management Alert, stating that DOC needed to develop key inputs and align with known best practices. The Department failed to heed this warning as two subsequent OIG audit reports pointed, again, to a failure to implement basic management controls.\n\n\u201cOIG\u2019s most recent report also found that changes in the BAS system to fix the issues experienced by NOAA will likely result in significant cost increases.\u201d\n\nThis inquiry seeks to understand the magnitude of the issues NOAA has been plagued with, the impacts on U.S. citizens, and when the problems will be rectified.\n\nJoining Sens. Sullivan and Cruz in sending this letter are Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Katie Britt (R-Ala.).\n\nThe full text of the letter is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-cruz-and-colleagues-demand-admin-accountability-over-botched-software-project-disrupting-fishery-disaster-aid-weather-forecasting"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4853209722787142, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}