DAs blast new welfare computer

CARSON CITY -- Mineral County District Attorney Brian Kunzi describes the computer system being developed for the state Welfare Division as "a $100 million dinosaur."

Carson City District Attorney Noel Waters says the system -- which has yet to come on line -- is already outmoded and questions whether it will work.

And even if the system known as "Nomads" does eventually function "we will be light years behind where we have to be," according to Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick.

District attorneys in Nevada who are responsible for child support cases are worried that the statewide welfare computer system will mean glitches in payments to families from supporting parents once the system is up and running.

"They (the district attorneys) have legitimate concerns," state Welfare Administrator Myla Florence said.

The district attorneys and state welfare officials met Friday in Reno to talk about the potential problems with the system that is being developed by IBM Global. The project started in 1989 and was estimated to cost $23 million. It has faced numerous delays and when the expected completion date is reached next year, the cost will reach $94 million, most of which will be paid by the federal government.

"I've been in office 3 1/2 years," said Kunzi, president of the Nevada District Attorneys Association. I was told when I arrived the system would be coming on very shortly ... it was imminent. It's a very antique system and that's the problem we're facing."

Currently there are 14 different child support computer systems working in Nevada counties. The federal government has ordered a single state system.

Nomads, according to Florence, "will do more for them than their current system." For example, much of the present paperwork will be done with electronic transfers.

"We will have a better understanding of the ability of Nomads to meet their business needs when we go through the parallel pilot."

Starting Aug. 28, some 400 cases in Washoe County will be entered into the state system in a six-week test run. If all goes well, more cases will continue to be included in the state's system.

But Florence said alternatives will need to be examined if "the pilot can't roll out what is needed."

If the state's test run doesn't work, Gammick mentioned joining Clark County in developing a joint system. Their computers are already talking to each other, he said, and a waiver could be sought from the federal government concerning the single system requirement.

Florence agrees with the concerns of the district attorneys that the computer language is old. "This is fourth generation IBM language that at some point in the future will have to be modified to the current technology," she said.

Gammick said Washoe County will continue to run its child support payments on its present system to make sure the custodial parents get their payments.

"We will do everything to support it (Nomads) as long as it does not degrade the level of service to custodial parents," he said.

When the federal government ordered the states to develop a single child support computer system Nevada decided to bring its full welfare system into Nomads, instead of piecemeal. Then on top of the delays and cost overruns, the federal government enacted welfare reform which forced more changes to be made to the system.

There are an estimated 83,700 child support cases in Nevada, with about 20 percent of them involving parents out of state. Clark County has some 40,000 open and active cases.

Florence said the state is being penalized by the federal government $714,000 for failing to make a deadline of fiscal year 1998. It could be hit with a $1.6 million penalty if it doesn't come on line by the end of the 1999 fiscal year. Florence said the penalty can be reduced by 90 percent if the system becomes operational by Sept. 30, 1999.

"We are going to look to recoup (some of the penalty from IBM Global)," she said.

archive