|
Bugs in the System
California Government Technology Failures and Recommended Solutions
Read the Report
Adam B. Summers
Report Author and Research Fellow
Lawrence J. McQuillan
Founder and Director, California Golden Fleece® Award
From the Employment Development Department’s antiquated IT systems (causing headaches for millions of Californians who filed unemployment claims during the Great Recession and the current coronavirus pandemic), to numerous IT project failures at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) going back to the 1980s, to the failed Statewide Automated Child Support System in the 1990s (which cost the state $1 billion in fines on top of the $111 million the state had already spent), to the BreEZe occupational licensing system that more than tripled in cost from $28 million to $96 million, California state government has repeatedly doomed itself to greater inefficiency and years of project delays while saddling taxpayers with enormous costs for technology that does not work—and sometimes is so woefully inept that it must be scrapped altogether.
For these continual failings, the Independent Institute awards its tenth California Golden Fleece® Award—a dishonor given quarterly to California state or local agencies or government projects that swindle taxpayers or break the public trust—to the agencies responsible for overseeing and administering the state’s various failed IT projects. These agencies include the California Department of Technology, Department of General Services, Department of Finance, State Controller’s Office, State Treasurer’s Office, Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Department of Motor Vehicles, and Department of Consumer Affairs.
To find out more about the California Golden Fleece® Awards, the Independent Institute, and how you can be a part of real solutions, visit us online or follow us on Twitter @CAGoldenFleece.
|
|
