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Interstate Child Support Enforcement: Computer Network Contract Not Ready To Be Awarded

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Oct. 23, 1991
Report No. IMTEC-92-8
Subject
Summary:

Uncollected child support payments now total $4 billion annually. To improve enforcement of interstate child support payments, the Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled a new nationwide telecommunications network to share case data with the states. GAO supports replacing the existing paper-intensive information exchange process with an automated one. Shortcuts in the development of the system, however, call into question its appropriateness and cost effectiveness. The demonstration project from which the network evolved did not adequately compare other options for solving interstate child support enforcement, and both the alternatives analysis and cost-benefit analysis were flawed. Further, future users of the network were not adequately consulted, and key issues that will influence the future success or failure of the network have not been addressed. GAO concludes that proceeding with the contract award at this time entails unjustified risks.

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