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Interstate Child Support Enforcement: Computer Network Contract Not Ready To Be Awarded

IMTEC-92-8 Published: Oct 23, 1991. Publicly Released: Oct 23, 1991.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Office of Child Support Enforcement's (OCSE) planned procurement of the Child Support Enforcement Network (CSENET), a nationwide telecommunications network to monitor uncollected child support payments, focusing on whether: (1) CSENET is the most cost-effective solution for increasing collections and improving the interstate child support enforcement program; and (2) OCSE has followed sound systems development principles in developing CSENET.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should not proceed with contract award without a comprehensive analysis of alternatives according to federal guidelines. This should include the identification of other viable alternatives that meet the agency's requirements for increasing interstate child support collections and the determination of the most advantageous alternative based on a comparison of validated costs and benefits.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Department did not agree with the recommendation. The Department stated that it had reviewed the documentation supporting the procurement and found that this documentation met federal requirements. This recommendation was included in the last annual report on open recommendations and is now being closed because HHS does not intend to implement it.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should ensure that: (1) users are involved throughout the design and implementation of an automated nationwide child support enforcement system; and (2) a comprehensive plan to rectify problems associated with the selected alternative, such as case reconciliation, be developed.
Closed – Implemented
The Department agreed with the recommendation. It established a steering committee, consisting of state child support directors, to ensure active user involvement throughout the implementation of the system. This committee is also to develop plans to address other issues such as the reconciliation of interstate cases.

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Topics

Worker and Family Assistance
IT acquisitionsChild support paymentsComputer networksComputer contractsCost effectiveness analysisDebt collectionFederal procurementInterstate programsLaw enforcement information systemsRequirements definitionSystems design