Accenture gets the Clear Lake Axe.

State Representative John Davis' (Clear Lake) privatization experiment with social services by the Bermuda based Accenture has suffered a major blow. According to the Houston Chronicle:

The $899 million contract with Accenture to operate call centers to determine benefits eligibility will be reduced by $356 million and ended in 2008, two years early, said Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins.

Accenture has been highly criticized for it's failures which resulted in thousands of children, illegible for health insurance, being denied. In Oct 2006, Texas Comptroller Carol Strayhorn issued an audit on Accenture and the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, which John Davis is the Chair, and it was absolutely brutal.

My conclusion is that this project has failed the state and the citizens it was designed to serve. The contract with Accenture must be ended. I recommend the Legislature pass emergency legislation that removes HHSC's direct management of the project and places the responsibility with a turnaround team composed of experts who can effectively manage state resources and stop the drain on tax dollars.

Yet while many were calling for an end to the experiment, Rep Davis, champion of the Accenture experiment, along with 30 other Republican lawmakers, had written in July 2006 to the HHS Commissioner in support of continuing the contract.His letter can be found here: page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4.

We are writing today to express our continued support for the Texas Integrated Eligibility and Enrollment System. This program, as envisioned by the legislature in 2003, will bring administration of human services programs in Texas into the 21st Century.

And in November he continued to support the contract during a debate with his opponent Sherrie Matula. (video of his comments are posted) State Representative Coleman (D-Houston), a critic of the privatization experiment, summed it up appropriately:

"They should have never (embarked on privatization) in the first place," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "I'm glad they woke up from whatever episode they were having."

He said privatization "never saved a dime. It only paid the people who didn't need to be paid, and the people it cost were the children and their families who tried to enroll (in services)."

According to the agreement, Accentures contract will end in 2008, a full two years early. Merry Christmas to all!