Unlicensed firms were subcontracted to carry out a battery replacement project at the state data center and caused a fire that crippled the government's online administrative services last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said Monday. The fire at the National Information Resources Service broke out on Sept. 26, damaging servers and crippling key online administrative systems, such as government websites and local community center systems, across the country. It took 95 days to fully normalize these services. According to the BAI audit, the original contractor for the battery replacement project hired another company, which in turn subcontracted the project to the two unlicensed firms in question. The two firms carried out the work without safety measures, such as turning off power to the battery rack. The data center had earlier received a report from the original contractor that outside personnel would be put to work, but failed to check whether the firms held appropriate licenses and are registered with the government, according to the findings. The audit also found that t