US Department of Labor awards more than $191 million for unemployment insurance program integrity and technology infrastructure systems

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Sep 14, 2011, 02:06 ET

40 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico receive funding

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor today announced awards totaling $191.5 million to 40 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for unemployment insurance program integrity and technology infrastructure systems. The grants are intended to accelerate actions to reduce UI improper payment rates; provide an opportunity for modernizing UI tax and benefits systems; and enable the design of technology-based tools to prevent, detect and recover improper UI payments.

"I was pleased to join Vice President Biden today in announcing efforts to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "We owe it to the American people, especially those who rely on unemployment insurance as a safety net, to be responsible stewards. This funding will help ensure state UI programs have integrity and run efficiently."

In order to qualify for program integrity funding, states must have implemented or committed to implement all of the core integrity activities. Awards support activities to address worker misclassification; implement technology-based prevention, detection and collection activities; implement the State Information Data Exchange System for earnings/wage verification, as well as monetary and potential employer charges; implement subscription fees for SIDES; contract staff support for benefit payment control activities; implement the federal Treasury Offset Program; and implement automation efforts that result in overall performance and system improvements.

In order to qualify for technology infrastructure consortium project funding, all members of state consortia had to commit to implementing the full range of core integrity activities. These funds will be used to modify and/or develop one of the core UI benefits or tax and benefit system designs; design additional core UI tax and/or benefit systems using open source components that are exportable to other states; and implement technology-based tools designed to prevent, detect or collect/recover improper UI payments.

Editor's note: A complete list of funds awarded follows this release.

Fiscal Year 2011 Awards – Unemployment Insurance

Summary


Funding Category	Recommended Amount
Program integrity	$63,474,747
Technology infrastructure consortium projects	$128,000,000
Total	$191,474,747

Program integrity awards


State	Recommended Amount
Alabama	$1,177,782
Arizona	$976,396
Colorado	$233,458
Delaware	$698,769
District of Columbia	$2,233,854
Florida	$2,310,791
Georgia	$1,439,976
Idaho	$2,279,112
Illinois	$2,699,667
Iowa	$1,444,570
Kansas	$1,077,706
Kentucky	$1,649,886
Louisiana	$2,397,750
Maine	$1,941,000
Maryland	$1,585,801
Massachusetts	$2,353,081
Michigan	$618,400
Mississippi	$1,999,000
Missouri	$1,403,000
Nevada	$2,150,000
New Hampshire	$198,040
New Jersey	$1,650,000
New Mexico	$2,499,029
New York	$2,100,000
North Dakota	$198,324
Ohio	$2,102,382
Oklahoma	$1,723,967
Oregon	$1,274,464
Pennsylvania	$1,254,977
Puerto Rico	$1,959,416
Rhode Island	$1,155,696
South Carolina	$1,993,051
South Dakota	$1,507,116
Tennessee	$1,551,365
Texas	$1,172,918
Utah	$1,048,030
Vermont	$2,246,844
Virginia	$2,400,000
West Virginia	$1,318,593
Wisconsin	$1,450,536
Total	$63,474,747

Technology infrastructure consortium project awards


Consortium	Recommended Amount
Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming (lead)	$72,000,000
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee (lead)	$50,000,000
Maryland, West Virginia and Vermont (lead)	$6,000,000
Total	$128,000,000

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SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor