Failed to update snapshots or start installation target with Maven

Does anyone have an idea how to solve this Maven error? I get the following when I try to update the project snapshots:

Build errors for my-projects-name; org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Internal error in plugin manager target execution 'Org.apache.maven.plugins: Maven-plugin-dependency: 2.0: unpack': Mojo execution failed.

And then when I try to run "mvn install":

[INFO] [assembly:single {execution:default}] [INFO]   
--------------------------------------------------------- 
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR [INFO]
--------------------------------------------------------- 
[INFO] Error reading assemblies: No assembly descriptors found.

      

        
        
        
      

    

I am running Maven 2.1.0. Can anyone shed some light on why he bows to me? Other team members can perform the above actions using the same copy of the code from SVN.

Thanks!

Edit: here's the POM:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <parent>
    <groupId>com.company.group</groupId>
    <artifactId>the-project-parent</artifactId>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </parent>
  <groupId>com.company.group.project</groupId>
  <artifactId>project-root</artifactId>
  <packaging>pom</packaging>
  <name>Project Name</name>
  <version>1.0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <description>This artifact contains the common settings for the Project.</description>
  <url>http://maven.dev.companyName.com/sites/projectGroup/project</url>
  <scm>
    <connection>scm:svn:https://sourceforge.companyname.com/svn/repos/group/tags/projGroup/my-project-name</connection>
    <developerConnection>scm:svn:https://sourceforge.companyname.com/svn/repos/group/tags/projGroup/my-project-name</developerConnection>
  </scm>
  <modules>
    <module>module-1</module>
    <module>module-2</module>
    <module>module-3</module>
    <module>module-4</module>
  </modules>
  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc</groupId>
        <artifactId>jtds</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.2</version>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.unitils</groupId>
        <artifactId>unitils</artifactId>
        <version>2.2</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>org.easymock</groupId>
        <artifactId>easymock</artifactId>
        <version>2.3</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
      </dependency>

      <!-- I cut most dependencies for brevity -->

      <dependency>
        <groupId>taglibs</groupId>
        <artifactId>standard</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.2</version>
        <scope>runtime</scope>
        <exclusions>
          <exclusion>
            <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
            <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
          </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
      </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.0-beta-5</version>
        <inherited>false</inherited>
        <configuration>
          <preparationGoals>clean install</preparationGoals>
          <tagBase>https://sourceforge.companyname.com/svn/repos/projects/tags/projGroup/my-project-name</tagBase>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>