Accenture wins Georgia child-welfare system deal

Georgia is banking on a new automated child-welfare case management system to enable social workers to do their jobs more effectively and offer greater safety to vulnerable children.

The Georgia Department of Human Resources has awarded Accenture Ltd. of Hamilton, Bermuda, a contract worth $25 million over three years to build a statewide, automated child-welfare system (SACWIS), company and state officials said.

The total price tag for the system is $40.4 million, the cost of which is being split evenly between Georgia and the federal government, according to the state.

The terms of the project call for Accenture to provide system design and development, implementation and a warranty. Once fully operational, the system will let case workers better monitor children who are under state supervision. It also will improve data sharing across county lines.

Most importantly, the new system will give case workers a way to monitor cases when children move across county lines, a feature not available with the existing system.

Before the SACWIS system is implemented statewide, Georgia will evaluate it in a controlled test through pilot projects in Douglas County. Based on the results, the state will adjust the system before rolling it out to all 159 counties. The whole state is expected to be using the system in 2007.

Accenture offers health and human services technology solutions to more than 30 states. The company, which has more than 123,000 employees and annual sales of $15.5 billion, ranks No. 25 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list, which measures federal contracting revenue.