Navy payroll computers don't know the ropes

The computer system administering the US Navy's $6.7 billion payroll is so unreliable that 400 local dispersing officers are forced to calculate pay amounts manually, Monitor correspondent Stephen Webbe reports. A General Accounting Office employs 250 clerks at its Cleveland finance center to resolve errors that the computer system rejects. In 17 percent of those cases, the clerks' correction work is rejected and the errors have to be corrected again. The Navy spent 12 years and $150 million to develop and operate the central pay system, but did not use the system effectively, the GAO says.