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Expert urges Michigan lawmakers to cap IT contracts, require biweekly demos to curb costly failures
Summary
At a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, a US Digital Response official urged lawmakers to adopt agile procurement practices, limit contract size and duration, require user research and hold biweekly software demos to reduce the risk of failed state IT projects.
At a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, Waldo Jackwith, government delivery manager for US Digital Response, told legislators that Michigan should adopt agile procurement, cap individual IT contracts at $10 million, limit contract lengths to three years, require user research for projects over $1 million and require two-week software demonstrations to reduce the risk of major project failures.
Jackwith told the panel that state custom-software projects frequently fail or deliver systems that do not meet users’ needs. He cited the Rhode Island Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP) as a case study: an initial $100 million contract with Deloitte expanded to roughly $364 million, rolled out late and produced large service disruptions for residents. "When the technology fails, the legislation fails," Jackwith said, arguing that legislative intent depends on reliable technology implementation.
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