Interior delaying update to EDS report

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2002

The Department of Interior is delaying the release of the final version of a consultant's report on trust reform.

The report, authored by EDS Corporation, was due to be published January 10, attorneys for Secretary Gale Norton told a federal judge last month. But the attorneys have now informed U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth they have asked EDS to delay the document so that the company can receive the "benefit of additional, ongoing discussion with Interior's subproject managers."

The final version is expected January 24, the attorneys said.

EDS Corporation, a management consulting firm, was hired by Norton last summer to assess the status of the $40 million Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (TAAMS) and a related subproject. The company published a report on TAAMS and Bureau of Indian Affairs data cleanup on November 12, 2001, to the cost of about $900,000.

Norton by that time had enlisted EDS to provide an overall assessment of trust reform, its eleven projects and four breach projects. A draft version was released December 6 but did not include the "roadmap," or timeline to implementation of hundreds of recommendations to improve trust asset management.

The first suggestions, contained in the November report, was to appoint a single person to oversee trust management. Norton took this recommendation and created an Assistant Secretary for Trust Assets Management.

The document expected next week would include the roadmap. In total, EDS was paid about $3 million for its efforts.

More on EDS:
Overview of Reports (12/20)

Relevant Links:
EDS Corporation - http://www.eds.com
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com