First of two parts

Former Gov. Mark Warner's belief that state government would be more efficient if computer services were consolidated under one agency sounded rational when he first proposed the idea. It probably still makes sense, but coherent thoughts are hard to come by when a major information technology project veers into the ether.

Anyone who has worked for a company testing a new computer system knows the horrors that always visit a so-called "beta site" - the place where the bugs are worked out. That's what Virginia has become: an enormous IT guinea pig.

No state has ever attempted such a sweeping consolidation of computer operations, and no state except Virginia has volunteered to turn over its entire computer infrastructure to a private company.

State officials and their private partners at Northrop Grumman Corp. are trying to figure out the project, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, as they go along. The resulting tensions exploded this month with the ouster of the state's chief information officer after he questioned whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth.

When the 10-year contract has a $2.3 billion price tag, value is no small matter. Lemuel Stewart Jr. could have been more diplomatic, but his concerns were legitimate. Rather than saving the state $100 million annually, as Warner predicted, VITA is in its third year of cost overruns. Legislative analysts now predict no savings over the 10-year term of the outsourcing contract.

System upheaval without cost savings equals an operational and political meltdown. The problem is partly explained by the decrepit condition of many of the state's computer systems, some of which had no security firewalls - the equivalent of a lock for the office door - before the consolidation.

But Northrop Grumman's performance has been far from flawless. It has yet to implement a new billing system due last summer, and it continues to charge agencies based on estimated services that many department heads dispute. Some state officials have refused to pay the company. Northrop Grumman is likely to miss its next big deadline in July for assuming full control of computer operations.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission is already deep into a study of the IT agency. Now state legislators are planning their own examination.

As the politics heats up, there's a danger that efforts to fix the problems at VITA will be overshadowed by petty blame games. Instead, legislators should take this opportunity to revisit broader questions necessary to salvage the project. First and critically, does one-size-fits-all really work for the motley assortment of state agencies being corralled into the arms of Northrop Grumman?

Some departments are small and self-contained; others vast and spread across the state. Some share data with federal and local governments, requiring buy-in and coordination with outside officials for technology changes.

Given the scope of the initiative, and the difficulty of meeting even early goals, it's reasonable to pause for a reality check and determine whether the original aspirations were realistic or should be adjusted.