Welfare computer system faces last fed test

Friday, Dec. 29, 2000 | 10:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- NOMADS, the trouble-plagued computer system for the state Welfare Division that is over budget and overdue, may soon be out of the U.S. government's doghouse.

Federal auditors will be in Carson City Wednesday and Thursday for a final inspection to determine if the system meets all the qualifications for handling child-support cases.

The state has paid the federal government penalties for the last three years because the system didn't meet the specified deadline.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is confident NOMADS will pass its latest test. "We have made tremendous progress," said the governor. "It's not a system I would initiate today with my background in technology. But we brought it up from its bootstraps and now we have verbal approval from the federal government."

The latest fine was $4 million, and the state could get 90 percent of that returned.

"They were looking at $30 million in fines over the years," Guinn said about the federal government. When he took office, Guinn got personally involved in fixing the beleaguered system and got the federal government to back off some of its penalties.

NOMADS started in 1988 as a $22.6 million project to comply with a federal law mandating a single statewide system for collection of child-support payments. It was to be completed within two years.

The division had an antiquated computer system that experienced a myriad of problems. So it decided to overhaul the full system, integrating other programs with the child-support payments function. The cost has now ballooned to close to $125 million, much of it paid by the federal government, and it has taken nearly 13 years to complete.

State Welfare Administrator Mike Willden says the federal auditors were in Las Vegas last November taking their first look. "There were minor issues, and we have already fixed those," says Willden. He said he was confident the system would pass the inspection and erase the potential for continuing fines.

Because of failed deadlines, the state paid $400,000 one year in penalties, $1.2 million the following year and $4 million last year, Willden said.

Gary Stagliano, deputy administrator for information services in the welfare division, says it may be four to eight weeks after the coming inspection before the federal auditors make their written decision. But the auditors will indicate at an exit conference if they have found any glitches, he said.

"We're all ready to roll," Stagliano said Thursday. "I wish they were here today."

All of the public assistance programs, not just child support, are being run on NOMADS, he said.

There are about eight other states that don't have full federal certification, he said.

Even if the federal government gives its certification to Nevada, there will still be other work to do on NOMADS, Stagliano said. He wants to make it more "user friendly" for the staff, eliminating the necessity of switching from screen to screen to perform certain tasks. And he said he would like to get it on the Internet.