The state Judicial Department is planning to hire at least 20 people to build and maintain its computer network, although it boasts the private company now doing the job helps makes the system the most “successful and economical” in the country.
A lawmaker who sits on the Legislative Audit Committee called the move “madness.”
But the department says it will save money over time if it processes civil court filings and public access of documents, instead of continuing to contract for those services with Lexis Nexis, an information services powerhouse.
The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee has green-lighted $680,000 this year for five new employees and equipment and has approved the department’s request for 15 new employees next fiscal year.
The program is included in the long bill, which House members will debate today.
“It’s just madness,” said Rep. Jim Kerr, R-Jefferson County, who sits on the Audit Committee.
“We have a budget shortfall of at least a billion dollars — that’s billion, with a B. We have a private sector that is suffering. And here we want to create more government.
“I just don’t get it. It just makes me crazy when something like this happens.”
Kerr said he also is concerned because Colorado’s track record when it comes to new computer systems is “dismal, abysmal and inept.”
“The state may (have that track record), but we’ve got an excellent reputation of developing things in-house,” said Bob Roper, the chief information officer for the Colorado Judicial Department.
He said the department has successfully developed in-house “every other major application we do in these courts.” That includes jury management, probation case management and an online payment program.
Roper said it was the JBC that asked the Judicial Department to look into a feasibility study about bringing the operation in-house. He said there were concerns about Lexis Nexis trying to raise its rates.
Last fall, the judicial department bragged that 95 percent of civil filings were done online.
“Colorado boasts the only successful, and most economical, statewide e-filing system in the country that is fully integrated with its court management system,” the department wrote in a report. “It serves as the national model with little cost to the taxpayers of Colorado and marginal costs to the users.”
That finding is one reason that Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, wants the state to keep its contract with Lexis Nexis instead of going in house.
“Putting money in this does not make sense,” said Newell, who runs a small business. “It’s been my experience that internal IT systems end up costing more money, and they’re not as efficient.”
Besides, she said, “my judicial district loves LexisNexis.”
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
