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this is a good introductory piece on why unemployment (and other benefits!) systems are failing, and the role that contractors like Deloitte have to play in that.
there are a couple of other things I want to pull out of here; will thread: https://themarkup.org/coronavirus/2020/07/16/unemployment-benefits-website-failures-deloitte-ibm
there are a couple of other things I want to pull out of here; will thread: https://themarkup.org/coronavirus/2020/07/16/unemployment-benefits-website-failures-deloitte-ibm
a bit about this quote, which is Deloitte pushing the responsibility to the agencies after they left: 'A Deloitte spokesperson, Austin Price, said the company hadn’t worked on Florida’s system in five years and did not know “how, or even if, the technology has been maintained.”'
I haven't worked directly with Deloitte, but have worked alongside gov workers who have.
I've heard about Deloitte building in a stack different than originally discussed, which staff developers don't have experience in—and taking their dev & test environments when contract ends
I've heard about Deloitte building in a stack different than originally discussed, which staff developers don't have experience in—and taking their dev & test environments when contract ends
obviously, this makes it often very difficult to maintain the existing system, or build new features
Deloitte and government aren't alone in this; many contractors don't make it easy for others to pick up their work once the contract leaves, effectively locking in.
Deloitte and government aren't alone in this; many contractors don't make it easy for others to pick up their work once the contract leaves, effectively locking in.
and then there's this, which is about the policy itself—so true! and not just for unemployment.
'George Wentworth, senior counsel at the National Employment Law Project, said both vendors and states themselves likely share blame for breakdowns.
'George Wentworth, senior counsel at the National Employment Law Project, said both vendors and states themselves likely share blame for breakdowns.
Some states, he said, have built systems with “a tremendous emphasis on fraud” that require complex work to determine who is eligible for benefits. In some cases, those decisions are too subjective to easily automate.
“Some pieces of them are just more complex than the vendors anticipate,” he said.'
our safety net is intentionally difficult to access and requires human subjectivity throughout. it is also highly punitive—focused on 'preventing fraud,' not getting folks access to benefits.
our safety net is intentionally difficult to access and requires human subjectivity throughout. it is also highly punitive—focused on 'preventing fraud,' not getting folks access to benefits.
what this means it that the technical systems to support this are complex. they default to rejecting people for benefits—to 'prevent fraud.' when you try to automate them, they will tend to reject people who are eligible, because that is how our policy is written.
also, <3333333 @themarkup
