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Official: IBM failing to give Texas agencies basic help under contract
AUSTIN, Jul 20, 2010 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Agencies that help Texans renew their automobile registrations, draw unemployment benefits and apply for food stamps and Medicaid face crushing demands -- and IBM, the technology contractor for those agencies, isn't even providing mundane services, a top state technology official testified today.
"We've experienced significant service delivery problems" that force state employees to wait many days for routine help with computer matters, said Ed Swedberg, a deputy executive director at the Department of Information Resources.
Speaking of a troubled, $863 million state contract with IBM, Swedberg described to a House budget panel "a major backlog of work requests" that, he said, have gone unheeded by the contractor.
"These are day-to-day requests, such as adding memory to a server, restoring a file or re-setting a password," he said. "This is of course frustrating ... and more importantly affects the agencies' ability to serve citizens and other constituents."
An IBM spokesman responded that the state is to blame for any problems.
"We are looking at each of [the department's] numerous shortcomings since the very beginning of the contract," said IBM spokesman Jeff Tieszen, who dismissed Swedberg's testimony as simply more "misguided accusations" from the state.
Last Friday, department head Karen Robinson sent IBM a sternly worded "notice to cure" letter that accused the company of 19 breaches of the seven-year contract to centralize 27 state agencies' computer services, data storage, printing and mass mailing.
Only five relatively small agencies have been fully shifted into the outsourced system. Huge agencies responsible for public schools, social services, highways, prisons and job training have only partially joined the new system. Most retain some of their old mainframes, servers and IT and print-and-mail shops staffed with state workers.
"As of today, IBM has only completed a little over 10 percent of the total server consolidation," Swedberg said. "We continue to rely on aging infrastructure for our critical systems and applications. This is clearly unacceptable."
In her demand letter to IBM, Robinson said the state could terminate the contract now, given IBM's inadequate staffing and poor service. Still, she gave the company 30 days to make fixes.
Today, she said in an interview that she was confident last winter that IBM could set things right. Robinson said she has been disappointed lately, though.
"It was a tough decision," she said of her letter, which could lead to cancelling the contract.
Robinson said that other state departments depend on hers to deliver reliable computer services and data storage.
"I've got to look out for my agencies," she said.
IBM's Tieszen said the company has done everything the contract requires.
"The state's data center infrastructure is more stable and secure now than ever," he said.
Through May, about halfway through the contract's seven years, the state has paid IBM $486.7 million.
"Primarily due to increased consumption [of data services], we've seen the total value of the contract grow over the first three years," Swedberg said.
The department has levied $7.3 million in penalties against IBM for poor service.
Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, who heads the House Appropriations subcommittee on general government, urged the department to sort out the contract mess quickly.
He said state agencies need to be more aware of how much computing, printing and mailing they do.
"They kind of lose track of how much volume they're generating," Otto said.
Agencies, just weeks away from submitting budget requests for the next two years, "are going to need to know what their requirements and costs are going to be," he said.
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.dallasnews.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Dallas Morning News
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