A $200 Million Snafu
2011-06-21 - by
Secretary Lanier Cansler has landed in $200 million worth of hot water.
Back in the days when Cansler was a lobbyist the Department of Health and Human Services gave his client CSC Corporation a $287 million state contract to process Medicaid claims. Shortly thereafter Cansler gave up lobbying and, thanks to Governor Perdue, became head of DHHS.
Now, after two years of working on that $287 million contract Cansler and his former client have delivered an empty pot to the state. There’s no new computer system. There’s nothing but the cyber equivalent of a hole in the ground. But Secretary Cansler has a solution: He wants to extend CSC’s contract from five to seven years. And pay them $495 million instead of $287 million.
That’s a $200 million snafu.
But there’s a silver lining in every cloud. In the next election healthcare is bound to be an issue and Secretary Cansler has handed Republican candidates a cruise missile to fire at Barack Obama and Beverly Perdue.
All the Republican legislators need to do now to prepare the ground is hold a hearing, call Cansler and ask, Let me see if I understand this correctly: CSC is two years behind schedule and your solution is to extend their contract and pay them another $200 million – explain to us how that makes sense?
A $200 Million Snafu
2011-06-21/
Secretary Lanier Cansler has landed in $200 million worth of hot water.
Back in the days when Cansler was a lobbyist the Department of Health and Human Services gave his client CSC Corporation a $287 million state contract to process Medicaid claims. Shortly thereafter Cansler gave up lobbying and, thanks to Governor Perdue, became head of DHHS.
Now, after two years of working on that $287 million contract Cansler and his former client have delivered an empty pot to the state. There’s no new computer system. There’s nothing but the cyber equivalent of a hole in the ground. But Secretary Cansler has a solution: He wants to extend CSC’s contract from five to seven years. And pay them $495 million instead of $287 million.
That’s a $200 million snafu.
But there’s a silver lining in every cloud. In the next election healthcare is bound to be an issue and Secretary Cansler has handed Republican candidates a cruise missile to fire at Barack Obama and Beverly Perdue.
All the Republican legislators need to do now to prepare the ground is hold a hearing, call Cansler and ask, Let me see if I understand this correctly: CSC is two years behind schedule and your solution is to extend their contract and pay them another $200 million – explain to us how that makes sense?