Page 38 - FCW, January/February 2021
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IT modernization
The challenges of updating
complicated, fragile systems
Yung likes to say technology is always better every day than the day before. Technologists are constantly improving, too, although it can be challenging for the government to woo them away from the private sector.
The shortage of highly skilled technologists at state and local governments has likely contributed to the massive problems with benefits delivery during the pandemic. Those problems are exacerbated by the fact that unemployment insurance systems rely on outdated technology.
In addition, state and local IT departments are gener- ally under-resourced, said Mitchell Weiss, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and author of “We the Possibility: Harnessing Public Entrepreneurship to Solve Our Most Urgent Problems.”
Unfortunately, federal-level administrative funding for unemployment systems has been on the decline since the mid-1990s, according to a 2017 report from the National Association of State Workforce Agen- cies. Weiss said focusing attention and resources on problems in public benefits delivery will be critical in the long term. “There’s no substitute for competent,
THE SHORTAGE OF HIGHLY SKILLED TECHNOLOGISTS
AT STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HAS LIKELY CONTRIBUTED TO THE MASSIVE PROBLEMS WITH BENEFITS DELIVERY DURING THE PANDEMIC.
coordinated, well-resourced government response,” he added.
Those antiquated IT systems are also complicated. The IT infrastructure that supports the delivery of ben- efits reflects the complexity of the laws and regulations that govern it, Levitz said. That intricacy makes the systems especially vulnerable to crashes.
Updating a fragile, mainframe-based system is an arduous process, but that’s what many states had to do to accommodate the changes Congress made to unemployment benefits during the pandemic. At the same time, states were dealing with a surge in new applications.
The Kansas Department of Labor had to remove a waiting week coded into the system, increase the
number of weeks of benefits provided by the state, increase the amount of federal benefits to account for the additional $600 provided by Congress and extend the number of weeks for certain federal benefits. The department also had to create a system to support the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides benefits to independent contractors and others who are not typically eligible for payments under unemployment insurance.
The stimulus bill passed in late 2020 extends some benefits from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Eco- nomic Security Act and introduces changes, such as increasing the number of weeks of benefits a person can claim and providing a $300 unemployment insur- ance supplement from the federal government.
However, that bill doesn’t provide additional fund- ing for modernizing states’ benefit delivery systems.
The lessons from HealthCare.gov
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the first time the imple- mentation of new policies has faltered because of technology. During the Obama administration, mas- sive problems with the launch of the Affordable Care Act’s HealthCare.gov website proved that technology is mission-critical, USDR volunteer Waldo Jaquith said. He is a data and digital fellow at Georgetown Univer- sity’s Beeck Center and formerly worked at the General Services Administration’s 18F.
The scramble to fix HealthCare.gov sparked a move- ment in the civic technology space. GSA’s 18F and the U.S. Digital Service, a technology unit in the Executive Office of the President, were created in the aftermath of the failed launch to apply innovative solutions to government technology challenges.
Despite advances in technology and a renewed focus on the issues, there are inherent challenges in deliv- ering unemployment benefits, which originate with the federal government and must be disbursed by the states, Jaquith said. For example, states can tap 18F to help with projects, but it can be difficult to negoti- ate that process.
Another obstacle is the need for employees with a complex, broad set of skills. Few people with top- notch technology skills also have a deep knowledge of procurement and policy implementation, he added.
“It’s the perfect storm,” Jaquith said. “Of course these projects fail. They’re going to keep failing until those knowledge sets get aligned.”
Those vulnerabilities have put IT acquisition and operation on the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk List for years. GAO auditors have made 1,242 recommendations on the subject since fiscal
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