ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER A legislative watchdog agency's report
on a problem-plagued statewide computer system designed to streamline delivery
of welfare benefits blamed the Virginia Department of Social Services for an
ill-conceived suspension of the system six months ago.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission concluded in its report
on the Application Benefit Delivery Automation Project that ADAPT was
suspended "without sufficient foresight and planning."
The state Department of Social Services "didn't build the necessary support for the suspension by involving local departments in the decision process," the report said. "Thus, to those not involved in the decision, the suspension seemed to be a sudden, unexplained shift in direction for a long-standing project."
ADAPT was launched in 1991 to make it easier for people to apply for welfare benefits. Clients now see different social workers for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid and food stamps. The goal was to create a one-client, one-worker structure.
The state spent $17million - half of it federal money - on program development and equipment for ADAPT. The project was behind schedule and over budget before Allen's administration declared it unworkable this year.
Initially, ADAPT was projected to cost $55million to operate for five years. That projection had risen to $84million.
Philip Leone, JLARC's staff director, said Tuesday that the state Department of Social Services failed to let local departments know how the project was progressing.
"Local governments are now left in a lurch about what happens next," he said.
Corinne Gott, superintendent of the Roanoke Department of Social Services, said workers had been training for ADAPT for three years. Wiring had been installed in department offices. Computers and printers were awaiting hookup. Cabinet space had been built around workers' desks.
"We were right on the verge," Gott said. "We were shocked when they told us [in January] that it had been canceled."
The state's decision to pull the ADAPT plug has cost the department, she said.
When workers were taken away from their regular case work for weeks of training, the department's error rate on cases increased. The federal government requires that 97 percent of cases be error-free. Anything below 97 carries a financial penalty.
Last year, the department had its first unacceptable rate in 20 years - 96.8 percent, Gott said.
"For one quarter, it came to $5,000," she said. The $5,000 was in funding available for the administration of the welfare program.
The JLARC report - requested by the state legislature and released Monday - said the suspension of ADAPT had a significant impact on the administration of social services programs at the local level. Local departments "re-engineered their eligibility processes at great cost and effort with the expectation that the state would provide the necessary automated tools to make the process work.
"Now, without the ADAPT project, the local [departments] find themselves with significant workload and little support or guidance from [the Virginia Department of Social Services] on how to proceed."
Leone said the project had been mismanaged from the start.
"It was well-intentioned. People were working real hard," he said. "But nobody was in charge of the project."
The state began phasing in ADAPT three years ago in 10 pilot sites. The system originally was to be up and running statewide last year but that target date was extended to 1997.
ADAPT also is the target of a Virginia State Police investigation. The investigation focuses on possible criminal violations that may have occurred in the development of ADAPT.
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