---
category: U.S. Government
created: 2024-04-26
location: Washington, D.C.
summary: The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia was the original
  client for the PROMIS case management software, commissioning the system in 1969
  under U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Flannery and deploying it January 1, 1971; the EOUSA
  later signed the March 1982 implementation contract with INSLAW that became the
  central dispute in the PROMIS Software Scandal.
tags:
- Organization
- PROMIS
- INSLAW
- DoJ
updated: 2026-05-01
---

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is the federal prosecutor's office responsible for both local criminal matters (unique among U.S. Attorneys' offices due to DC's non-state status) and federal crimes within the District. As used throughout the INSLAW files and the House Judiciary Committee's PROMIS investigation, "the U.S. Attorney's Office" refers to this DC office unless otherwise specified.

### Role in PROMIS Development

In 1969, U.S. Attorney [Thomas A. Flannery](/people/thomas-a-flannery/) perceived an urgent need for improved case management tools to handle the volume of cases flowing through the DC office. He directed the [Office of Crime Analysis of the District of Columbia](/organizations/office-of-crime-analysis-of-the-district-of-columbia/) to commission a computerized case tracking system, funded by a $60,000 [LEAA](/organizations/leaa/) grant (70-DF-047) administered through [Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co](/organizations/peat-marwick-mitchell-co/). The design team was co-directed by [Joan E. Jacoby](/people/joan-e-jacoby/) and [Charles R. Work](/people/charles-r-work/) (then Deputy Chief of the office's Superior Court Division), with [Bill Hamilton](/people/bill-hamilton/) of Peat Marwick as project manager. The resulting system, the Prosecutor's Management Information System ([PROMIS](/programs/promis/)), was deployed January 1, 1971.[^1]

The DC office became the first PROMIS site and served as the demonstration platform for the system's national expansion. [LEAA](/organizations/leaa/) subsequently funded [INSLAW](/organizations/inslaw/) to adapt PROMIS for adoption by other jurisdictions, and provided grants to municipalities converting to the system.[^1]

### EOUSA Implementation Contract

The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA), which administers support for all 94 U.S. Attorneys' Offices, was the entity that signed the March 1982 implementation contract with INSLAW, Inc. for installation of PROMIS in 20 large U.S. Attorneys' offices and word-processor systems in 74 smaller ones. The execution of that contract, and EOUSA's subsequent conduct toward INSLAW, became the central dispute in the [INSLAW affair](/events/promis-software-scandal/).[^1]

[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* House Report 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992.