UHIP's Federal Special Master Expects Upgrades to Be Implemented By Late June

UHIP's Federal Special Master Expects Upgrades to Be Implemented By Late June

Federally appointed special master Deming Sherman believes that the corrections to UHIP’s technology and program failures relating to the food stamp program (SNAP) will finally be corrected on June 23. 

Less than ten days ago, another major deadline was missed by the state of Rhode Island and its vendor Deloitte.

Sherman was appointed to oversee the corrections to the failed SNAP program in October of 2017.

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“The new date for the ‘worker inbox’ upgrade and related fixes is June 23.  In the meantime I expect that the percentages for timeliness of processing of both expedited and non-expedited SNAP applications will remain above 90% because of the technological and staffing improvements to date,” Sherman told GoLocal.

The UHIP program has been a convoluted technological and economic disaster that started under the administration of former Governor Lincoln Chafee and was launched by Governor Gina Raimondo’s administration.

The program is over budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, there are multiple lawsuits, and late last year Federal Court Judge Willam Smith appointed Sherman. The tech project which was designed to create better efficiency and improve service for Rhode Islanders who receive benefit through five different programs continues to miss deadlines and costs continue to spike — now estimated to be over $600 million.

UHIP still uses a 40-page paper application -- see the application below.

“The May 19 upgrade was delayed because more testing of the technology is needed. All along I have cautioned that the upgrade should go live only it the testing is complete and satisfactory and the DHS staff is trained. The delay relates to the technology, not the DHS training.  I should have a new implementation date tomorrow.  The upgrade should positively affect all social service programs within RI Bridges, not just SNAP,” said Sherman.

Sherman says these upgrades should improve the programs covered under UHIP. "In the meantime, DHS has made excellent progress toward the goal of 96% timeliness of the processing of SNAP applications.  In April, DHS exceeded 90% for both expedited and non-expedited applications,” said Sherman.

Sherman said in an interview on GoLocal LIVE in April that 150,000 to 170,000 Rhode Islanders are on food stamps at any given time and that each month there are 5,000 new applications. Thus, when the program only functions at 90 percent thousands of Rhode Islanders are delayed in the course of a year.

“This is due to a series of smaller technological fixes, the identification of causes for untimeliness and remedying them, and the assignment of an increased number of DHS staff to process SNAP applications.  The upcoming upgrade should help to close the gap and allow DHS to maintain the 96% standard,” said Sherman.

When asked if he, a corporate attorney for his career, had the tech firepower to assess claims by state and Deloitte officials about now ordered improvements, Sherman said, “Since last December I have retained as an independent technical consultant Anthony S. Ruocco, Ph.D., P.E., Professor on the School of Engineering, Computing and Construction Management at Roger Williams University.  He has attended my meetings with Deloitte (roughly every other week) with me and given me appropriate advice.”

Sherman predicts that at some point the UHIP program will function. “I have not heard, nor have I opined, that the RI Bridges [UHIP} system will never work.  RI Bridges [UHIP] is a complicated system because it incorporates five different social service programs, each of which has its own regulations and criteria for eligibility. Some programs overlap.” 

“I am confident that the system will work as to the SNAP program, which services some 90,000 households in Rhode Island.  I cannot speak as to the others, although I believe that many of the fixes for the SNAP program will also help with the other programs,” he added.