Governor jumps into debate on ‘Nomads’

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn will meet with federal officials in San Francisco Monday in an attempt to soften penalties that could be imposed for continually missing deadlines in developing the trouble-plagued computer system for the state Welfare Division.

Nicknamed "Nomads," the system has been in the works for 10 years and has cost $100 million so far. Its original cost estimate was $22.6 million and was supposed to be completed in three years.

"We've got a $100 million jet fighter and nobody knows how to fly it," said Pete Ernaut, chief of staff for Gov. Kenny Guinn, who has called this one of the biggest problems facing state government.

Guinn and a group of state welfare officials will talk to federal representatives at 7 a.m. Monday in hopes of lightening the sanctions that could be imposed against the state.

"We're not going to avoid a penalty," Ernaut said. "But at best we may get a qualified penalty."

The federal government, which has paid about 65 percent of the cost of Nomads, has withheld $7 million from the state in the past year. That's more than the state faces in sanctions.

Through the years, the system has been roundly criticized on all sides.

"The Nomads system was designed around the federal government rules and they did not ask the counties or the users whether it would work," Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, who is considered a computer expert in the Legislature, said Thursday. "Now you have a system that is incorrectly designed and not workable. And it's time to reassess."

Some have suggested junking the project and copying programs from other states like Wyoming that appear to be working efficiently. "We may be able to salvage some of the hardware," O'Donnell said. "But we bit off way too much."

The state contracted with IBM and its subsidiaries to develop the system. And there has been continual friction between the two staffs.

Ernaut said Guinn has called both the chairman of the board and the chief operating officer of IBM to talk to them about his concerns. "This is the first governor to handle this personally," Ernaut said.

Welfare and computer officials say they will be presenting a "plan of corrective action" to the federal officials in an attempt to convince them the state is on the right track in solving the problem.