AUGUSTA (AP) – Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky says the installation of a new computer system for the state’s motor vehicle records will be completed by August 2005 and within the remaining $5.2 million budget.

Gwadosky presented the Legislature’s Transportation Committee on Thursday with a detailed timetable for the project, which is more than a year behind schedule and half done.

The complex project involves moving the Bureau of Motor Vehicle’s vast database off a 30-year-old mainframe computer and onto a more efficient, Web-based system. The work began in 1999 and has cost about $11 million in taxpayer dollars so far.

Committee members hammered Gwadosky with questions about what led to the delay and high costs and how he will guard against such problems in the future.

“I think you will agree that there were some mistakes here and I just don’t want to see that again,” said Rep. Ronald Collins, R-Wells.

Gwadosky, who maintained that “this has always been a $15 to $16 million project,” broke down the timelines for completing the remaining components and said his department would hire an independent project manager to monitor progress and help solve problems.

Lawmakers were angry they did not hear about problems in the project until last month. The Legislature launched the project by appropriating $6.7 million four years ago; later it approved another $6.5 million.

Difficulties arose in 2000 when the state sought bids from companies to design and build the system. The state at the time had no information technology experts and the description of the project turned out to be too vague, resulting in bids ranging widely from just over $2 million to more than $26 million.

The state in 2001 hired Keane Inc. to complete the job by Dec. 2002 for $11.4 million. But the bureau requested modifications in 2002 and 2003 and extended the deadlines twice, to May 2003 and July 2003.

The state, which has paid Keane more than $7 million so far, has taken over the job from the contractor and is negotiating with the company on how much of the system it actually built.

AP-ES-04-16-04 0218EDT