Computer system an issue for family leave

Machines' cost estimated at $18 million

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published October 13, 2007

Whichever state agency takes on a new paid family leave program, it will have less than two years to put a major computer system together — a difficult and costly task.

State computer projects are complex and expensive, as well as notorious for finishing late and over budget.

Majority Democrats passed a bill this year to give new parents $250 a week for up to five weeks while they take time off from work, starting in 2009. Running the program will take a computer capable of processing 36,000 claims a year.

An early cost estimate for the system is $18 million, a major factor in the high cost estimates for running the program that have surprised some legislators.

Paid family leave would require five computer systems, said Vickie Kennedy, who is heading the Department of Labor and Industries analysis.

Of particular concern is the age of the computers the department is using to operate the workers' compensation program, she said.

Lawmakers have yet to decide which agency will run paid family leave. They also have not decided whether it will be paid for with payroll taxes or via another method.

Two of three possible homes for the paid family leave program are running antiquated mainframe computers, and the third is building a new one.

"We have no plans at all to make any kind of adjustments to the BAIAS project," said Dave Wasser, spokesman for the Health Care Authority, referring to the Benefits Administration/Insurance Accounting System.

Its $11 million system is under construction, one of 15 major state computer projects under way.

At the Employment Security Department — a more likely home for the program than the Health Care Authority — engineers are in the early stages of planning a $40 million replacement for the unemployment insurance computer system.

"It's a system that's 30 years old. It wouldn't be a system that we could add on to realistically," department spokeswoman Sheryl Hutchison said. "It's been patched and spliced together. It's fragile."

California, rather than rebuild its old computer, built a new system and linked it to the old one.

"The integration was very, very difficult. We were trying to get three systems to play nice together, essentially," said Peter Leung, a developer on the California project.

That approach linked the older database for the state's disability compensation program, a new computer for paid family leave, and a document-scanning system to take in applications for payments.

The system had to be rebuilt after it launched in 2004 and ultimately cost $25 million.

But it delivered a family leave program in the same two-year time frame that Washington lawmakers are giving their government.

"For the most part it's running well. In hindsight it's one of those things we would have done different. It takes more maintenance than we would like," Leung said.

Similarly, Kennedy said Washington could develop a paid family leave computer on schedule.

"There's actually plenty of time. We've pretty consistently said that we need two years to develop the payment system, 18 months to develop the premium collection system," Kennedy said.

The computer to deliver payments would cost about $11.5 million, according to her agency's estimate. Although funding has not been established, a payroll tax computer to pay for the benefit would drive the cost to an estimated $18.1 million.

Lawmakers will meet again Wednesday to discuss the specifics of the plan.

Adam Wilson covers state workers and politics for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or awilson@theolympian.com.