State of the $tates

North Carolina's Division of Medical Assistance awarded a $3.9 million contract to Consultec/ITC's Atlanta office in September 1999. The deal is for fraud and abuse detection software and services related to the state's Medicaid program. Consultec/ITC will provide the state with an innovative detection system that will be able to look at claims and provide several ways to identify fraud and allow for faster investigations, documentation and money recovery.

Tennessee's Department of Employment Security has awarded a $1.85 million contract to the Atlanta office of Lucent Technologies Inc. Lucent will implement a claims system that will allow taking claims over the telephone for the Interstate Claims Unit and the metropolitan Nashville offices.

The department provides temporary income assistance, or unemployment insurance benefits, to unemployed people who qualify. The department also collects payroll taxes from employers to fund these benefits.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, has awarded a $146,600 contract to Burger, Carroll & Associates of Santa Fe, N.M. The contract, awarded in October 1999, calls for the company to assist the WIC program in developing a plan to implement a distributed, microcomputer-based database management system to manage participation and food instrument data statewide.

Michigan's Department of Management and Budget has awarded a $283,250 contract to Andersen Consulting's Boston office for an assessment of methodologies and a strategic plan to implement the purchasing component of Michigan's e-commerce initiative. The contract was awarded in September 1999.

Andersen will define the functionality required by the Office of Purchasing and its customers, recommend solutions and provide strategic direction for the implementation of e-commerce initiatives.

These contracts are compiled by Federal Sources Inc.'s state and local division. Federal Sources is a market research firm in McLean, Va.