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CONNECT Daily Update - Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Jan 08, 2014

“To make sure we are effectively serving claimants, DEO requested information from additional vendors, and we have received one response from Capgemini, an industry expert who has successfully implemented systems in other states. They will examine our system and consult on its effectiveness moving forward. We are currently negotiating with them and expect them to be actively engaged by the end of the week. While we remain hopeful that Deloitte will deliver the system Florida was promised, this will further our ability to deliver the fully functional system claimants need and continue to enable us to hold Deloitte accountable.” – Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director of the Department of Economic Opportunity
  • DEO staff remains focused on helping individuals successfully file claims and receive payment to which they are entitled. To that end, teams continue to work overtime on individual needs and cases to ensure payment regardless of outstanding technical defects affecting their claim.
  • UPDATE: DEO staff overtime costs in October, November, and December 2013, was approximately $1.1 million. In the three months prior to the launch of CONNECT, DEO staff overtime costs were approximately $600,000. DEO has sufficient federal funding to support the overtime costs in the reemployment assistance program to ensure every claimant is served.
  • On December 20, DEO withheld a $3 million payment from Deloitte and began instituting liquidated damages of $15,000 per business day as penalty for the failure to successfully launch the state’s new reemployment assistance system. DEO continues to collect the liquidated damages and will do so until it is deemed that the website is fully functional.
  • Earlier this week, Deloitte committed to increasing programmers by 40 percent, or 10 programmers, to address technical issues and is working on a plan to solve all remaining problems.
  • The additional 250 adjudicators and 80 call center agents who will be added to current staff levels in the coming months will cost approximately $164,700 per week. DEO already has sufficient federal funding to support the increased level of staffing for the reemployment assistance program. The new staff will be housed in DEO offices in Tallahassee, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale and will be retained until we have effectively served every claimant.
  • The Project CONNECT Executive Steering Committee met this morning in Tallahassee. Meeting materials are available at http://www.floridajobs.org/office-directory/division-of-workforce-services/about-workforce-services/meeting-minutes-and-agendas.
  • Since the launch on October 15, more than 1.2 million total claims have been filed using CONNECT and more than $339 million has been paid to claimants.
  • On Tuesday, January 7, a total of 19,159 claims were filed using CONNECT and approximately $4.3 million was paid to claimants.
  • Please note that the contract and all amendments have been and will continue to be available for review on DEO’s website at http://www.floridajobs.org/office-directory/division-of-workforce-services/about-workforce-services/invitation-to-negotiate-(itn).
  • Call centers remain open extended hours and will remain as long as needed. Those hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST on Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST on Sundays.
  • On Tuesday, January 7, there were 19,576 unique phone numbers comprising 63,734 calls to the call center and there were 7,552 live customer interactions.

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