Computer Project Overruns Taking Byte Out Of Budget Lawmaker Calls For Legislative Summit To Address Costs

House Speaker Clyde Ballard, increasingly concerned about cost-overruns and start-up problems with large state government computer projects, has proposed a legislative summit in January.

Several big-ticket projects are millions of dollars over budget and years behind in coming on line, showing the need for more oversight, the East Wenatchee Republican said in an interview this week.

He is proposing a gathering of interested legislators from both parties and both houses early in the 1997 session. Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Redmond, said senators will be interested.

“I think we need to tell these people to get these things working or else,” Ballard said. “I’m annoyed that in Washington, with Microsoft and all these companies, we can’t get these things going.”

Lawmakers’ main concerns are over three systems. The ACES project, to track welfare checks and reduce fraud, began in 1982 and was supposed to cost less than $10 million. It is now scheduled to be ready by next June, at a cost of $54 million.

The GUIDE project at the Department of Employment Security, to monitor unemployment eligibility and to issue checks, began in 1989. It was supposed to cost no more than $3 million and to be running by April 1993. It came on line last month, at a cost of $25 million, and has had startup problems.

The LAMP project, designed to consolidate licensing information from old systems dealing with drivers, vehicles and boats, began in 1990, with an expected cost of $67.5 million. It was supposed to be running by last January. Part of the project has been scrapped and another is on hold. The third segment is being developed and total cost now is projected at $73 million.

Finkbeiner, a member of the state Information Services Board, wants the board to pull the plug on the LAMP computer.

“You could spend a lot of money and end up with nothing at the end,” he said. “The Legislature has to ask itself ‘What is the huge problem we need a computer to fix?”’

Todd Sander, assistant director of the state Department of Information Services, said “The days of the $20 (million), $50 (million), $80 million megaproject are probably over. We need smaller, more manageable systems.”

Bob Fitchitt, head of the Legislative Accountability Program, agrees.

“These are very difficult to do and I think we need to do them in manageable chunks,” he said. “The whole information technology area - we need to look at being a little bit smarter. I’d like to see the Legislature become more involved in this area.”