BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Over the years, children have reportedly fallen through the cracks as DCFS struggled to manage its caseload, and new technology was supposed to change that.
“It’s important because it’s the IT system that tracks the welfare of all children,” said State Representative C. Denise Marcelle.
Marcelle said after $40 million of state and federal funds were given, the contract has been pulled.
“Nobody really knew how to build this type of system. It’s really not been done in any state yet,” Marcelle said. “However, it started in 2019, so we went 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 before we even canceled or stopped that contract.”
The project was managed by the State’s Office of Technology Service (OTS), according to the Policy & Communication Director for OTS Jacques Berry.
“OTS administratively manages the contract on behalf of DCFS. The contract was awarded using a review panel consisting of three DCFS personnel and two OTS personnel. For implementation, a joint project team consisting of a DCFS project director and program staff, and OTS project and technical staff worked together daily,” Berry said in a statement.
Rep. Marcelle recalled OTS saying in a House Appropriations meeting that the choice to terminate the contract was out of convenience.
“They said it was $40 million like it was two dollars, and it was $40 million,” Marcelle said.
“The decision was a joint decision between DCFS and OTS, with support from federal partners, based on evolving federal requirements,” said Berry in a statement. “The decision was made immediately after the assessment of the vendor’s ability to deliver the project under the new federal requirements. “
According to Berry, the contractor was only paid roughly $13 million.
“The vendor was paid $13,062,062.50 of the $23,169,04.00 contract total. The vendor was only paid for the work performed. Deliverables received by the State will be used as the project progresses. The $13,062,062.50 was a 50/50 Federal match, with $6,531,031.25 being State funds,” said Berry.
Lawmakers like Rep. Marcelle began to raise the question, “Where’s the rest of it?”
“They are asking for an additional $40 million I guess to rebuild that system,” Rep Marcelle said.
The system, if implemented, promised to help with the safety of vulnerable children, but going forward, lawmakers may have a closer eye on the process.
“I think we are going to be holding them more accountable and I think you will see more oversight from us as it relates to this,” said Marcelle.
Berry shared in a statement how the state will prevent this from happening again.
“In the future, the State will leverage a third-party Independent Verification and Validation vendor to audit the project throughout its lifecycle. Additionally, the State will add specific contract checkpoints to assess project health throughout the contract term,” Berry said.
But it could take a while before the new system is in place.
“Upon cancellation of the contract, the State took immediate action with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to determine the most advantageous path forward. The State is currently exploring options to include cooperative purchase, C-SWAP (Child Welfare Software and Artifacts Pool administered by ACF), and/or RFP(s) as part of the procurement approach. Anticipated timeline to completion is 22 to 36 months depending on the chosen solutions,” Berry said.
OTS will be able to provide answers to where the remaining is by Wednesday.
Rep. Marcelle said that she needs more evidence to evaluate if DCFS holds any responsibility in this situation. A representative for the department responded with a statement. Read their words below.
“It is correct that DCFS was in the room the entire time of this project, as the subject matter experts for child welfare, as OTS was in the room as the subject matter experts for technology. We testified to such today. Since this is a technology solution, OTS definitely received our input, as well as the input of other partners. There is no doubt that OTS is the lead on this project because it is technology. There is no doubt that we were the subject matter experts providing input on what the technology needs to accomplish.”
DCFS
Lawmakers asked for a detailed report on how this money was spent and that will be presented within the month.
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