DWD announces contract with Madison firm to upgrade UI technology
MADISON (WKOW) -- The Department of Workforce Development announced Wednesday it had selected a company to handle the overhaul of the agency's outdated system for handling unemployment claims.
DWD officials said they chose Madison-based Flexion to lead a four-year project over installing a modern technical system for processing claims.
During the worst of the pandemic last year, agency officials blamed the current system, and its hardware that dates back to the 1970s, for making it take so long to process unemployment claims as thousands of Wisconsin workers waited for weeks or months for their cases to play out.
DWD will pay Flexion $16.5 million over the four-year span of the project. Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek said it was part of an overall upgrade that will cost a total of $80 million, which she said the agency will be able to cover with federal pandemic relief funds allocated by Gov. Tony Evers.
Beyond that, maintaining the system would require general state funding in the years that follow.
The agency said upgrading the processing software would eliminate some of the time the system is currently down for claims to process, which means during those overnight hours, people cannot access the call center to submit claims. Pechacek said the upgrade would also allow DWD to more quickly implement new programs that come up during a future economic crisis that flood the unemployment system
DWD offered no definitive timeline on when the software upgrade would be noticeable to people filing a claim, saying it would happen "very soon."
Pechacek said the IT system overhaul is happening alongside other projects currently underway, including the modernization of DWD's call center. Pechacek said the first phase of that upgrade is scheduled to begin next week with a target completion date of next February.
"That is going to allow for much better and extended call center hours, easier information for claimants to be able to interact with the system," Pechacek said. "There's going to be a virtual agent component there and, eventually, that updated modern call center will have the ability for folks to file claims over the phone and get current status of their claims any time of the day, night, or weekend."
Current DWD data shows more than 15,000 people are awaiting outcomes in their appeals cases. About 3,000 of those claimants have had hearings scheduled for their cases while about 12,500 others are still waiting to have a date set for their appeals to be heard. Pechacek said DWD was working to whittle down the caseload by going from 17 judges handling hearings to more than 60.
Pechacek said another upgrade in the works was a new "virtual career center" that would seek to connect employers with people seeking work and to provide a location for job hunters to find updated labor market information in addition to current openings.
Gloss