Interesting. The fact that this happens all over leads me to believe the entire development model is wrong. The world has changed, but enterprise systems vendors haven't. Rapid development, prototyping, and iteration might save projects like these.

The District has fired the contractor hired to build a $12 million data repository for critical information about D.C. schools, citing missed deadlines, software defects and failure to make available the personnel it promised, officials said Monday.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and State Superintendent of Education Kerri L. Briggs announced the dismissal of Williams, Adley & Co. , an accounting and management consulting firm, at a late afternoon news conference. The firm was awarded a contract early last year to create the Statewide Longitudinal Data Warehouse, which was to compile information about student academic growth, teacher quality and graduation rates and make it available to policymakers and parents. Much of the data is scattered among government agencies, public charter schools and the D.C. public school system.

And by the by... why does DC have a "State Superintendent of Education" and a schools chancellor?