DENVER—Gov. Bill Ritter has set up a panel of technology experts to help the state fix its broken computer systems after its top computer expert estimated the state has wasted $200 million to $300 million on computers that don’t work over the past four years.
“There were mistakes made about decentralizing the system, duplicating efforts. You know, the procurement system, I think, was not well thought out across state government, and not how they talked to each other,” Ritter said Thursday. “You wound up in Colorado seeing a great deal of money that ultimately was badly spent, and we’re just not going to throw good money after bad.”
The governor said some systems, like the state’s troubled welfare computer system, can be fixed, while others will have to be scrapped.
Michael Locatis, the state’s chief information officer, said the state wasted $200 million to $300 million over the past four years.
The Ritter administration issued a report in July that cited turnover in leadership, inadequate technical expertise and ineffective management for problems with the Department of Revenue’s $10 million automobile registration computer, Colorado State Titling and Registration System, or CSTARS.
The system, which started late last year, was intended to be an upgrade that could be integrated with county systems. It was shut down in April after the department determined it was losing data.
In February, Ritter cited continuing problems with the state’s welfare computer system. The $200 million system was responsible for processing welfare benefits that include Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
Counties blamed it for causing a backlog of nearly 30,000 cases and the state was sued for failing to provide benefits.
The state was also forced to cancel two major contracts—one for a computer system to manage unemployment insurance and another for voter registration—after the vendor failed to deliver.
Ritter set up an innovation council to spur technology development and make recommendations on ways to get broadband Internet service to rural areas of the state.
“In state government and in the private sector, the digital age of the 21st century means Colorado must be ambitious, innovative and effective when it comes to maximizing the use of technology. We can vault Colorado into the nation’s technology elite, and we’ll do it by using technology to save taxpayers millions of dollars and more effectively deliver services to people all across Colorado,” Ritter said.
The panel of experts appointed by Ritter won’t be paid.
Brad Feld, an Internet developer assigned to help the state fix its computer problems, said centralizing the state’s computer systems will have its own challenges, including privacy and security issues, but he said that’s better than having dozens of state agencies having their own systems and support teams.
“Decentralization and chaos is not the solution,” he said.
