COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The state has awarded a multimillion dollar competitively bid contract to a Michigan company to upgrade and operate its often-criticized child support computer system.

Covansys Corp. beat out 12 other companies, including the other two that run the system now along with Covansys, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced Tuesday.

The new contract, which is budgeted for $17.8 million next year, is to take effect at the end of the month and is renewable annually through 2007.

The state and all county child support enforcement agencies use the system, called the Support Enforcement Tracking System, to calculate and distribute $1.82 billion in payments in about 985,000 cases annually.

Problems have plagued SETS since it went online in October 2000, when federal law required all counties to be connected to a statewide central computer that tracks collections and payments of child support.

The largest problem resulted in the state improperly withholding about $38 million in overdue child support and income tax refunds from former welfare recipients as reimbursements for aid they received.

The state admitted in February 2001 that the error occurred because it failed to reprogram the system. That problem was fixed and the money, plus interest, now is being repaid.

However, still awaiting implementation are several other improvements to SETS that state Auditor Jim Petro recommended in an audit released Friday of the state's child support program.

"There's still work to be done on the system," said Jon Allen, a department spokesman. "We've got 88 counties that rely on this system so we need to make sure that the system best meets their needs."

Bryce Haws, Covansys' vice president for the Ohio Valley, said that he believes the company won the contract partly because it helped the state secure a conditional certification from the federal government, saying that the system was in compliance with the 1988 welfare reform law.

The system currently is being evaluated for compliance with 1996 federal welfare reform legislation.

"We're very excited about this," he said. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Mich.

He said the company has operated similar centralized child support systems in Indiana, Hawaii, Nevada and the Virgin Islands.

Covansys, American Management Systems and Keane have jointly operated the system since it was created. The state spent $23.5 million on it last year.

Cleveland.com

-- Anonymous, July 04, 2002