[May 21, 2013] State to finally replace ancient jobless-claims computer Tweet May 22, 2013 (Orlando Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- In good news for the jobless and employers alike, the state's 1970s-era computer that processes unemployment claims is finally getting replaced. The new system is coming this fall, five years after the computer almost ground to a halt. The $63 million network is expected to make online filing easier for jobless Floridians. Officials say it will give them ready access to their payment history and allow them to quickly determine whether a claim has been approved. It should ease the workload on employers -- who pay for the state's unemployment trust fund -- and help the state reduce and recover overpayments. Officials with the Department of Economic Opportunity estimate it will cut program costs by $43 million a year. The system is on target for an Oct. 1 debut, barring any additional federal cuts. Already, the so-called sequester has required the state to slash $50 million in benefits for the jobless. "We do not anticipate any potential roadblocks," DEO spokeswoman Jessica Sims wrote in an email, "however, any sequestration-related or U.S. Department of Labor mandates could possibly hinder our launch." The overhaul will replace an aging -- and now infamous -- mainframe computer system left over from the Nixon era. Installed in 1972, the mainframe and network it supports have been modified repeatedly through the years, and the mainframe has become increasingly unreliable and difficult to program. When unemployment claims surged in 2008, the network almost collapsed. In early 2009, consultants hired to assess its health found a system on the verge of a meltdown. A report warned that the mainframe was "well beyond its useful life" and at an "ever increasing risk of ... failure." A separate report done a year earlier had identified a dozen "major inefficiencies," affecting everything from client intake to claims appeals. The report cited about $40 million in overpayments blamed, in part, on the "myriad of other applications and platforms" loaded on the system. As more people filed for benefits, overpayments piled up. In 2012, federal officials estimated Florida's payment error rate from 2008 to 2011 climbed from 4.5 percent to 8.4 percent. During that time, the state overpaid by almost $500 million. This month, the outdated system again made news when the U.S. Labor Department said its "extraordinary programming challenges" made it impossible for Florida to follow federal guidelines for carrying out the sequester budget cuts. In most states, unemployment spending was cut by reducing the size of payments, which max out at $275 a week in Florida. But that was too complicated for Florida's fragile mainframe, so the state announced it would simply cut eligibility from seven to three weeks. "Until last week, I had no idea this was coming," said Gail Dalmat, a laid-off special-education teacher hit by the cut. "And I'd be very surprised if very many [others] knew it was coming either." Since 2009, the system overhaul, known as "Project Connect," has been pushed back at least twice. The Legislature initially targeted a June 2011 launch, but the company hired to do the work, Deloitte LLP, delayed that until December 2012. Design problems pushed the project back further, and the deadline was changed from June 2013 to June 2014. Sims, however, said the system will be running well before that. She also said the timetable closely follows a four-year schedule first laid out by consultants in 2009. The project's cost is expected to come in at $62.8 million, about $5.5 million less than initial estimates. It is being paid for with federal tax money. Maurice Emsellem, co-director of the National Employment Law Project, said that, traditionally, Congress has put little focus on helping states improve the administration of their unemployment programs. That's one reason why many states have operated for decades with out-of-date computer systems. A 2009 survey found that the average age of unemployment technology systems was 22 years old. Congress "dropped this mess in the laps of the states," Emsellem said. "Historically, they've been pretty stingy with funding." [email protected] or 407-420-5379 ___ (c)2013 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]