Feds OK agency’s computer

Thursday, May 17, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The once trouble-plagued computer system of the state Welfare Division has officially passed federal muster and state government has received a refund of $3.6 million.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified state Human Resources Director Charlotte Crawford Tuesday that the computer now meets federal standards.

The state had paid more than $4.7 million in fines because it had failed to make the deadlines before. But the $3.6 million is a refund on those fines.

State Welfare Administrator Mike Willden said he expects to get another $1.3 million back from the federal government, which disallowed some costs in developing the computer, whose nickname is "NOMADS."

Willden said the $3.6 million came in the form of a letter of credit and will go back into the state's general fund to repay part of the $9 million the Legislature allocated in 1999 to fix the system.

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