Expert tells Appropriations subcommittee to adopt agile procurement, limit contracts to $10 million to curb IT failures

Weldon Jaquith, government delivery manager at nonprofit US Digital Response, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government that state governments should adopt modern software practices — including agile development, single product ownership, user-centered design, modular architectures and modular contracting — to reduce the risk and cost of major IT projects.

Jaquith opened with a case study of Rhode Island’s Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP), a custom benefits-management system that began with a roughly $100 million contract and, after repeated change orders and delays, swelled to about $364 million. He said the project launched late, disrupted benefit delivery and later suffered a data breach that exposed residents’ personal information. “If the technology fails, the legislation fails,” Jaquith said, urging lawmakers to treat technology and budgeting as…