System revamp falls short on promised public access features
When the website Yelp announced in July it would start posting the results of government restaurant inspections alongside its users’ reviews, eateries in New Mexico were left out.
That’s because New Mexico (excluding Albuquerque) is not among the 45 states that make that information available online in the first place.
The New Mexico Environment Department had a plan to change that. The results of restaurant inspections were due to be posted on a department website starting in September, part of a $1.37 million, six-month-long revamp of the computer system at the Environmental Health Bureau.
However, the plan for online inspection reports was dropped, along with other public-access features, when delays hampered progress implementing the computer system. In March 2017, the bureau put the system online and, 11 months behind schedule, declared the project a success.
In December 2015, the Environment Department awarded GL Solutions of Bend, Ore., a contract to create a new software platform for the Environmental Health Bureau, the Integrated Electronic Data Management and Inspection System. The bureau has oversight of food handlers and processors, on-site septic systems and public swimming pools and spas.
The upgrade was meant to improve the bureau’s data collection and streamline its workflow.
Two other vendors, CSW Enterprises LLC of Albuquerque and Burger, Carroll & Associates, Santa Fe, were responsible for managing the project and verifying it worked as required, respectively, according to department documents.
GL Solutions was paid in full, $1.37 million, for developing the system; likewise, CSW Enterprises was paid $52,968 and Burger, Carroll & Associates was paid $21,662, according to those documents.
Due dates originally were scheduled for 21 “deliverables” starting with software installation in October 2015 and ending with system support and software upgrades in 2023. Thirteen of those deliverables have been met so far, according to an email Aug. 15 from William Chavez, head of the Environmental Health Bureau.
In April 2017, during a closeout presentation to the state Department of Information Technology Project Certification Committee, the Environment Department noted that while the project had recently achieved “green go live status,” it had been scaled back because of complications.
Four features, including online access to inspection results for restaurants and public pools, an online public complaint system, online permit applications, and electronically available, or mobile, forms for field inspectors, were “deferred and will be phased in later with budget and resource allocation permitting.”
Those items were due in September, according to the contract. The department would not speak directly to when those features would be available, except to state that a temporary version of the mobile forms application would be online next month and it “has funding available to continue development of online technological advancements.”
The department declined requests to make someone in authority available to speak about the contract. Instead, it provided two prepared statements, including Chavez’s, and email responses to questions.
The department “is committed to serving New Mexicans by embracing new technology and improving access to public services online. While some goals have been achieved … , such as the automated, electronic delivery of permits and invoices for food facilities, swimming pool facilities and liquid waste systems — [the department’s] contractor is several months behind in developing the mobile inspection application,” according to a statement sent Aug. 13 by department spokeswoman Katy Dougherty-Diffendorfer.
GL Solutions CEO Bill Moseley did not return messages seeking comment. The company specializes in providing software for government regulatory agencies.
Addressing project delays in the April 2017 presentation, the Environment Department cited “the large number of changes” to the software to meet the bureau requirements, the time required for the bureau to “utilize the product during the software stabilization period,” and the added time required to transfer data from the septic program into the new system.
It also cited delays caused by “vendor project resource allocation,” explaining that the vendor was “implementing software products for other clients at the same time.” It also stated that the vendor provided software that “required custom development” when it had promised off-the-shelf software needed only modifications to fit the bureau needs; and that the contractor “did not perform quality assurance testing” on its software before handing it over to the bureau.