According to the audit, Sentinel will be rolled out in four phases. The Associated Press reported last week that Lockheed Martin Corp. was the winning bidder for Phase 1, which will provide a Web-based portal where FBI and other government law enforcement agents can gather data and information.

Phase 2 will begin the shift to paperless case records by creating an electronic case document management system and data repository, while Phase 3 will entail the rollout of an elaborate "universal index" database of people, places or things relating to cases. Phase 4 will implement the project's new case management and reporting capabilities and will then move all the existing ACS data over to the new systems, according to the FBI.

Network World staff contributed to this report.