Use of consultants doesn't always compute / Theft of data device, past woes raise questions about Ohio's reliance on outside help
Source: By JIM PROVANCE, Toledo BLADE (OH), Sunday, July 29, 2007
……. Highly paid contractors outnumber state employees on the ongoing $158 million Ohio Administrative Knowledge System (OAKS) 167-to-119. Of the 167 contractors on the project, 117 work for Accenture, the company that was behind the failed OhioWorks. The OAKS project manager, state employee David White, was being paid about $52 an hour when he resigned on July 20 rather than be fired. That's roughly a quarter of the $200 an hour Ohio taxpayers were paying Compuware Corp. consultant Brian Welch, who was working as his assistant. Mr. Welch's contract has been terminated.
……. Bruce Wyngaard, operations director for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, said progress has been made since 2001 to develop more in-house computer talent and that the Strickland administration has been receptive to continuing that. But he said not enough of that has been done to date with OAKS, a massive centralization of payroll, purchasing, and other accounting functions from various departments and agencies.