NOMADS awaits federal certification team

Federal inspectors will arrive in Carson City on Nov. 6 to begin a four-day examination of the controversial NOMADS computer program.

NOMADS is the computer system that is supposed to unify welfare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs as well as child support for the entire state of Nevada. It has a decade-long history and, at more than $130 million, a bigger price tag than any other project in Nevada state government history.

Federal law requires the state to meet certification before the end of the year or suffer millions in penalties that will take money away from those entitlement programs. The penalties this next year alone would be about $9 million.

Deputy Welfare Administrator Gary Stagliano, who manages the project, said federal inspectors are already reviewing the 18, 3-inch thick, binders of documentation for the system mailed out Sept. 15.

But they want to put the system through its paces, reviewing hundreds of federal requirements, as well, he said.

"We're planning for an item-by-item review," he said.

Stagliano said two teams, one reviewing the functionality of the program and the other its handling of financial issues, will visit both the state and county offices where child support is handled.

And one of the key issues is whether NOMADS can collect and properly distribute child support money.

That job has traditionally been handled by the counties but, under new federal law is being taken over by the state. Whether the state can handle the task is one of the biggest issues in getting federal certification.

Although he said the state has already put the system through every test required by the federal government, he doesn't expect them to like everything about NOMADS.

"Frankly, I've never heard any state get a clean bill of health," he said. "They'll say 'You're conditionally certified but you still need to do this and that.'"

With the bulk of certification work completed, he said programmers have shifted their focus to making the balky and complicated system more user-friendly. County child support workers and state welfare workers have complained continuously that the system - with more than 400 different data screens - is so complex it takes more than a year to learn. And they say it is impossible to quickly navigate from one screen to another unless the two happen to be near each other in the program.

There have also been complaints about lost data and incorrect calculations in child support payments but Stagliano said he hopes those problems have all been fixed in time.

"Essentially, certification is done unless the feds come in and point out things we need to focus on," said Stagliano. "Now we're working on user needs."