Above, Gov. Kelly Ayotte commended the military service of Edward “Ted” Parker and Captain Hubert Buchanan who were both prisoners of war. PAULA TRACY photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – New Hampshire will have a new and updated child welfare information system after the Executive Council voted 3-2 to support a formerly tabled $18.5 million contract Wednesday.
Executive Councilors John Stephen, R-Manchester, and David Wheeler, R-Milford, said they could not support a six-year agreement with Deloitte Consulting LLP of New York to replace the current New Hampshire Bridges state automated child welfare information system with the New Hampshire Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System.
The work involves tracking child welfare cases.
Lori Weaver, commissioner of state Health and Human Services, said a review of what went wrong in the case of Harmony Montgomery noted that the state monitoring system was 28 years old and in need of an update.
The company was among only two bidders, Stephen said, and although the company is honoring the cost it offered more than three years ago, he said the state could go out to bid and perhaps get a better deal.
Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, D-Lebanon, said she was concerned about losing the contract and not only the financial implications but to child welfare, noting this provides data to protect children.
Councilor Janet Stevens, R-Rye, agreed.
Noting the report on the Montgomery case, she said “we have to do it for the kids. We have to protect our kids.”
She noted that there is a federal fund match which should be taken now.
Wheeler, however, said he can’t support it and has heard that now is not the time to be updating information systems.
He also had a concern with invoking the Montgomery case.
“I think it is horrible,” he said, to “exploit the case of the death of Harmony Montgomery.”
Weaver said the system will allow for improvements in safety to protect children like her.
Denis Goulet, commissioner of the state Department of Information Technology, was asked by Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, for his input with Kenney noting he has over 40 years in IT experience.
Goulet said the timing is good and he has very little concern with signing the deal.
Kenney asked about the length of the term of the contract, of six years with a renewal which could be more than 10 years and Goulet said it is actually a relatively short term by industry standards.
He said he had confidence that this could be run and managed for at least 10 years and the state would have the ability to terminate.
The contract is 50 percent federally funded and the rest would come from state general funds.
Goulet called it a low-risk contract with a company that has had success in the past with the state and that it is continually being upgraded without having to use state employee time and without disruptions.
On a scale of 1 to 10 confidence in the contract Goulet gave it an 8.
Kenney said he came undecided to the meeting but voted to support it after Goulet’s assurances that it would be in the best interest of the state to pass it.
Additionally, the council voted to remove from the table and passed a related item, a $3.5 million contract for an Independent Verification and Validation service as required by the Administration for Children and Families to support the department’s Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System Implementation Project also using 50 percent federal funds and 50 percent from the state general fund.
There were councilors, including Wheeler, who asked whether or not we have in-house capabilities to avoid having to pay for a contract.
“This is an end-around to the governor’s hiring freeze,” said Stephen.
Liot Hill said given the uncertainty at the federal level, she would be very concerned to not sign the agreement now.
POW DAY/ COMMENDATIONS
Wednesday was declared Prisoner of War Day in New Hampshire and Gov. Kelly Ayotte commended the military service of Edward “Ted” Parker and Captain Hubert Buchanan who were both prisoners of war. The two led the council chambers in a pledge of allegiance.
Parker, 100, enlisted in the U.S. Army in World War II and was deployed to North Africa and at age 18 captured by German forces and was forced into slave labor before escaping. He was later recruited as an intelligence asset before returning stateside and was prepared for deployment to the Pacific before a relapse of malaria kept him from further combat.
Buchanan served in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1973 beginning his career as a pilot and systems operator on the F-4 Phantom II. During his 17th mission he was shot down over North Vietnam and held for six and a half years as a prisoner, released in 1973 during Operation Homecoming.
Both their stories, the governor said, “stand as a powerful testament to American courage, endurance and sacrifice in the face of unimaginable adversity.”
$17.5M for PENNICHUCK
Following a public hearing before the Executive Council in which no members of the public commented, a conduit bond of up to $17.5 million was approved for Pennichuck Water Works Inc. and its affiliates, based in Nashua.
It provides clean drinking water to 150,000 customers and about 10 percent of the state population, mostly in the southern tier.
James Key Wallace of the Business Finance Authority said this is a private loan to Pennichuck and does not involve state funds but allows for a lower rate because it is public infrastructure.