$840,000 later, MDE scraps IT project

The state Department of Education spent $840,000 then scrapped a $5.5 million software project initially pitched as a potential cost saver for the state’s school districts.

Since February, the Mississippi Department of Education has spent the federal money on a contract with the Massachusetts-based Public Consulting Group for the Mississippi IEP Data Accountability System, called MIDAS for short.

The agency will not be able to recoup the costs for a project designed to create a statewide online database housing individualized education programs for special education students.

Plans for the MIDAS project were a two-year effort, which raises questions about why it took so long for the agency to discover the project was not feasible.

Individualized education programs, or IEPs as they are called, are documents outlining services and academic goals for students who receive special education services. Federal law requires districts to create and abide by the programs for eligible students.

The MIDAS contract was approved for a five-year period with the first year costing $1.2 million.

Recently, education officials advised Public Consulting Group to cease working on the contract, which will be terminated as of Sept. 30.

In an email obtained by the Clarion Ledger, Chief Academic Officer Nathan Oakley informed districts that MDE was discontinuing the MIDAS project, which was set to launch on Oct. 1.

“MDE has determined that intrinsic technical barriers will prevent the system from fully functioning as envisioned without additional, significant investments outside of the scope of the contract,” he wrote in the email to district special education directors.

Oakley explained to the Clarion Ledger the problem was with the back-end technology.

Similar to the engine that’s beneath a car’s hood, back-end technology allows for a database’s operations to occur in the first place.

“The user interface appeared to work as expected,” Oakley said. “The part that districts would see and use and enter information into works as you would expect to see, but the back-end technology did not or could not support the project as it had been envisioned on the front end.”

Language in the contract indicated MDE intended “to be actively involved in the day-to-day progress of the project.” It’s unclear whether the agency became aware of the problems prior to a review of IT contracts by Chief Information Officer John Kraman, who joined the agency in the spring.

MDE’s former chief information officer, John Porter, signed off on the project. Porter resigned in November 2017 for personal reasons, according to the Associated Press.

Kraman reported the state would have to have a major investment of time and labor to support the project longterm.

The state Board of Education approved the contract at a September 2017 board meeting.

“This is a cost that districts have been taking on themselves,” then special education director Gretchen Cagle told board members at the meeting. “Ninety percent of our districts have an online IEP system, but they’re paying for it individually. We are going to take on that cost at the state level, which frees up more money for them to use at the local level for instruction and intervention.”

Cagle, who is no longer with the agency, said the system would also allow districts to easily access the IEP of a student who had transferred.

When fully functional, MIDAS was meant to allow the MDE to track the attendance and discipline records of students.

Software accounted for 80 percent, or $4.4 million, of the total contract cost. Professional services accounted for the remaining 20 percent, almost $1.2 million.

MDE made four $140,000 payments to the company with two occurring in February and the remaining two invoices approved in April and May.

In June, the contractor received a $156,000 payment from the agency. The last payment was made in July for $124,000.

MDE worked with the state’s Department of Information Technology Services to hire the contractor.

Officials said the system would also make it easier for districts to report data needed for annual federal reports.

Communication from Oakley indicates some districts had already started to transition away from their online IEP systems in anticipation of the MIDAS launch.

“We regret any inconvenience that this change will bring to you and your district,” he wrote. “However, the MDE made this decision after careful deliberation and in consideration of what is in the best long-term financial interest of districts and the state.”