Marc L. Songini, ComputerWorld, (via Slashdot) reports:

Failure to secure access to the source code of a key application added more than $10 million to the cost of the infamous “Big Dig” highway construction project in Boston, according to the Massachusetts state auditor.

The application, called the Integrated Project Control System (IPCS), handles traffic, roadway, fire and security systems management for the $14 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project. Software development for the IPCS project remains unfinished.

The initial application was created by Transdyn Inc., which was awarded the contract for the first phase of the project. The problem occurred when Transdyn refused to hand over access codes for the application to Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc., which won a contract to develop the next phase.

Massachusetts State Auditor Joe DeNucci this month said the failure of project managers to secure “timely ownership” of the IPCS software boosted the cost of the project. The matter wound up in court and cost the state millions in overruns and other costs, he said.

“The significance of this audit is that it’s a good example of the kinds of things that went wrong in the project,” said a spokesman for DeNucci. It indicates a failure to foresee that “a dispute over the access to the software code [could lead to a] problem that would delay the second phase,” he said.

Project Managers’ failure to secure ownership of software code added $10 million to the cost of Boston’s Big Dig construction project, pictured here in February 2000.
Project Managers’ failure to secure ownership of software code added $10 million to the cost of Boston’s Big Dig construction project, pictured here in February 2000.
Image Credit: The Associated Press
Groundwork for Lawsuits

The initial phase of the IPCS project started in 1994, when Pleasanton, Calif.-based transportation software maker Transdyn won a $52 million contract to develop the application for the first phase of the Big Dig, according to the audit report. The system was based on Transdyn’s Dynac transportation management software. In 1999, Honeywell won a $104 million contract to build the next phase of the system to control and monitor the entire Big Dig project.

At that point, Transdyn refused to turn over the Dynac source code to Honeywell, claiming that the technology was “proprietary and forms the cornerstone of a portion of its business.” The state argued that Dynac had been modified as part of the project and had thus become a customized piece of software not subject to the legal safeguards for off-the-shelf applications.

Massachusetts paid Transdyn $350,000 in a 1999 out-of-court settlement of lawsuits that each had filed against the other. Under the deal, Honeywell sublicensed the software from the state “under certain safeguards,” the report stated.

The auditor based the $10 million price tag for the problem on the state’s decision to waive $2.72 million in damages it believed it was owed by Transdyn and an estimated $7.2 million cost for the four-month delay in the project caused by the interruption of the software hand-over — bringing the total cost overrun to $10.3 million.

Meanwhile, Honeywell in December negotiated an end to its contract for the project, whose price tag has ballooned from $104 million to $188 million since 1999. Vic Miller, vice president and general counsel at Columbia, Md.-based Honeywell, said the audit bolsters his company’s position that the late delivery of the Dynac software was among the factors that affected its ability to deliver its portion of IPCS for the agreed-upon price.

Currently, Transdyn is negotiating with Big Dig authorities to complete the IPCS system, said a Transdyn spokesman. He said the company “is not in a position to comment” on the auditor’s report.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which manages the Big Dig, declined to comment on the specifics of the audit. In an e-mail statement the authority said, “We have been very candid about the issues we have encountered with the installation of the IPCS system and have already referred those issues over [to the state attorney general] for potential cost recovery actions.”

FEBRUARY 28, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD)