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Ongoing monitoring: KDHE early childhood licensing IT project rated satisfactory but schedule risks noted
Summary
Legislative auditors monitoring KDHE's child care licensing IT project found scope and cost satisfactory as of April 1, 2025, but several schedule slips and an interface risk could jeopardize the October 2025 go‑live date.
Legislative Post Audit’s ongoing monitoring of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s (KDHE) early childhood data integration and system enhancement project found the project’s scope, cost and security “satisfactory” as of the quarter ending April 1, though schedule delays and an unresolved interface for foster‑care licensing raise risk to the planned go‑live date.
Katrin, a Legislative Post Audit monitor, told the committee the project will replace an outdated child care licensing system and serves two agencies: KDHE (child care licensing) and the Department for Children and Families (foster‑care facility licensing). In January 2024 KDHE signed a roughly $4.3 million fixed‑price contract with a vendor to deliver a licensing solution using a software‑as‑a‑service model.
Katrin said the project has used a structured change‑control process; 13 change requests were recorded during the reporting quarter and five were approved, adding about $125,000 to the cost. KDHE had paid roughly $1.6 million against deliverables and also holds a separate annual licensing contract of about $385,000. Additional monitoring fees charged by the Kansas Information Technology Office (KITO) added about $40,000.
The monitoring report rated schedule as satisfactory overall but cautioned that several subtasks had slipped and three major upcoming tasks are at risk; the go‑live date was previously moved to October 2025 with final completion projected in February 2026. Katrin flagged a specific concern: a foster‑care interface needed for the Department for Children and Families that “may need to get pushed back into the after go‑live phase,” which would affect planned functionality at launch.
The auditors also noted problems comparing their monitoring results with the state IT project reporting system (CARS). KITO’s CARS entry for this project showed an outdated update (the most recent online entry reflected the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2024) and characterized the project in “caution” status, which the auditors said undermined CARS’s intent to provide timely oversight information.
No formal committee action was taken during the presentation; members had no substantive questions. The monitoring report will continue as an iterative oversight activity required by statute and the committee may receive future quarterly updates.
Ending: The committee accepted the monitoring memo presentation; auditors will continue quarterly monitoring and noted they will track whether schedule slips require changes to the vendor contract or state oversight obligations.
