A $2.2 billion project to automate the Immigration and Naturalization Service's most important tasks has been so poorly managed that it is in trouble, according to the Justice Department's inspector general.

• Michael R. Bromwich told Congress yesterday that there are no benchmarks which would allow auditors to judge whether the project is on schedule or within cost limits.

• Although Congress appropriated $500 million in recent years to upgrade INS technology, some programs are two years behind schedule, and members of the House committee overseeing the project worry it could cost billions.

• The various projects involve airport inspections, tracking illegal immigrants, installation of office computers and movement sensors along the Mexican border.

Bromwich singled out three programs in particular for criticism.

• Ident -- an automated fingerprint identification system used to track illegal immigrants -- lacks a network to allow the 80 stations along the border equipped with the technology to communicate.

• Enforce -- designed to replace 50 paper forms used to process illegal immigrants with an automated system -- is two years behind schedule.

Source: Eric Schmitt, "Problems Hold Up Automation of Immigration Service's Tasks," New York Times, February 27, 1997.