Controlling Board approves ODJFS IT contract to modernize unemployment system; members pressed department on overpayments and summer meal underutilization

The Ohio Controlling Board on Jan. 13 approved Department of Job and Family Services items that include a contract to replace a 20-year-old mainframe unemployment system with an off-the-shelf vendor product tailored to Ohio law.

Rachel Johansen, a Department of Job and Family Services representative, told the board the existing IT system is two decades old and runs on a mainframe. She said the vendor product has been used in other states and can be tailored to Ohio-specific unemployment law. "This is the type of system we're looking for," Johansen said, adding the new system should improve the customer experience for claimants and reduce the operational burdens on JFS staff.

Representative Sweeney repeatedly pressed JFS officials about overpayments and the balance between fraud prevention and timely benefits. She said about 1,000,000 unemployment claimants were referred to the attorney general's office during pandemic-era reviews and that many of those referrals involved nonfraudulent cases. Johansen said the department has added identity-verification options since the pandemic, including a United States Postal Service in-person verification option, and that the new system will include improved identity-verification tools.

Johansen told lawmakers she and her team had reviewed the auditor's recommendations and incorporated them into the request for proposals for the new system. When asked how the upgrade would reduce erroneous overpayments, she said the new system's improved accuracy and verification tools would lessen such issues going forward.

Lawmakers also asked about summer meal benefits that were not fully used last year. Johansen said the department issued $144,000,000 for the summer meal program and that $118,000,000 was spent, representing about 82% utilization of benefit dollars. She and lawmakers discussed outreach and timing as ways to increase utilization next summer; Johansen said earlier distribution of benefits and communication through schools should help.

President Schueller called for objections to the ODJFS items; none were raised and the items were approved without recorded objection.