The state's analysis of its botched rollout of a flawed public-benefits computer system lays much of the blame at the feet of contractor Deloitte Consulting, which Gov. Gina M. Raimondo's office says delivered a "broken system." But, as the resignations of Elizabeth H. Roberts, a former lieutenant governor who served as Health and Human Services secretary under the governor, and two other involved state officials suggest, the state's response to that still-broken system and management of the problems were equally flawed.
The $364 million Unified Healthcare Infrastructure Project was plagued from the start by technical problems and long wait times for people seeking benefits. Yet in October, a month after the rollout, Ms. Roberts told PBN most of the issues had been worked out and that the system was an improvement for the almost 320,000 Rhode Islanders enrolled.
But the problems continued, in part it seems because the state moved too quickly to begin generating savings tied to the costly project by laying off about 70 Department of Human Services employees, most of whom transferred to new state positions. For that misjudgment, along with a failure to act more quickly and effectively to address the problems, Roberts and two others are out of jobs.
It is fair for Gov. Raimondo to call for new leadership to oversee her plan to fix the problems. But in so doing, she's now responsible for the system's ultimate success or failure.
No longer can she or anyone else in state government say they are unaware of the depth of the problems. •