LANSING -- About 80 computer workers have lost their jobs in Lansing because the state canceled a contract to expand its overdue and over-budget child support computer system.
But Douglas Howard, director of the state Family Independence Agency, said the decision to scrap a contract with Oracle Corp. and abandon plans for a new, high-volume system to handle Wayne and Oakland counties will save the state time and money.
The FIA will look for ways to use the existing system to serve the two large counties, he said. The agency oversees the counties' handling of child support.
The Child Support Enforcement System, which is partially operational, has cost taxpayers more than $215 million since 1984, the Lansing State Journal reported Friday. That's in addition to $29.7 million in federal penalties the state has paid for not getting the system completed on time.
The computer system is intended to keep track of parents who are delinquent in their child support payments.
Michigan, one of nine states that missed a federal deadline, has been paying penalties since 1998. Howard said the state faces more than $25 million in further fines next year.
The workers who lost their jobs were contractors, not state employees, the State Journal reported. Oracle said the workers will be eligible to transfer to Oracle projects in other states.

The Detroit News

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