State scraps computer project / Millions spent on faulty effort to track unemployment claims
Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), Feb. 18, 2007
The state has pulled the plug on what was to be a $41.2 million computer project after it spent $10 million on a key component that has yet to work. The suspension of the federally funded EnABLES project comes in the midst of an audit of state information technology projects and less than a year after the University of Wisconsin System abandoned a payroll system that had cost $26 million. …… Of the $23.6 million spent on the project, $10.4 million went to prime contractor Tier Technologies, $2.6 million went to Curam Software and the rest was used to pay state employees and buy equipment. ……
A related project has also been plagued with delays. The Statewide Unemployment Insurance Tax Enterprise System, or SUITES, was originally budgeted at $17.2 million, but is now expected to cost $29 million - $12.2 million more than originally planned. ….. Accenture, the prime contractor for the job, completed its share of work in 2005, and state employees are now completing the project.