An August 22 article in The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported that "[t]he state auditor's office blasted the Department of Labor and Employment for failing to oversee the development of a new computer system earlier this decade, saying problems that cost Colorado $24 million could have been found and addressed sooner." While the article further reported, “It's the latest in a series of computer-related problems that have beset state government,” it failed to note that the “problems” dated to the administration of former Republican Gov. Bill Owens, who left office in January after serving two four-year terms. In contrast, an August 22 article about the audit in The Pueblo Chieftain pointed out that the new computer system, as well as other problematic computer systems, were “implement[ed] under former Gov. Bill Owens' administration.”

As the Gazette article by Ed Sealover reported, “The Labor Department contracted with a private firm in 2001 to create a computer system, known as Genesis, which would process unemployment benefits and taxes. After a series of missed deadlines and failed tests, the department canceled the project in December 2005 and received back just $8 million of the $32 million it had paid to Accenture.” The article continued:

It's the latest in a series of computer-related problems that have beset state government. In the past two years, expensive problems have surfaced concerning computer systems used to manage welfare benefits and driver's licenses.

[...]

An audit released Tuesday found that the department did not establish a project-management structure that involved three levels of oversight on the contractor, relying instead on Accenture to oversee and manage its project. The department also did not monitor the contractor in a timely or rigorous fashion, and it did not inquire into Accenture's knowledge, skills and experience with similar projects when awarding the contract, the audit stated.

The auditor's office recommended that future contracts for information-technology projects be monitored closely and that the department strengthen its record-checking process for vendors. Labor Department officials agreed to the changes at a Legislative Audit Committee meeting.

While the article quoted Rep. Dorothy Butcher (D-Pueblo) as saying, “We can't just continue, I think, to go on with IT projects and never produce anything,” it failed to mention that the failed IT projects she referred to dated to the Owens administration.

In contrast, the Chieftain noted the role of the Owens administration in reporting that "[t]he real reason the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment had to scrap a $41 million computer project last year was because it failed to properly monitor the contract, a state audit revealed Tuesday":

The department's Genesis Project, which was to handle unemployment benefits and tax collections, could have been rescued when problems began to arise in 2003 and 2004 if the department had been watching it closely, state auditors told the Legislative Audit Committee.

[...]

The audit also said the labor department failed to do a proper background check on the company's ability to actually build the unemployment computer system.

“If I were to do an Internet search on Accenture today, I'm sure a lot would have come up,” [Department of Labor and Employment director of unemployment insurance Mike] Cullen said.

Accenture also worked on two other troubled state computer programs: the $10.5 million Statewide Colorado Registration and Election system for the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, and an $11 million Colorado State Titling and Registration System for the Colorado Department of Revenue.

While both those contracts were cancelled as a result of the problems, they weren't the only expensive computer systems the state has tried to implement under former Gov. Bill Owens' administration.

Though still up and running, two others ran into serious problems soon after going on-line: The $223 million Colorado Benefits Management System, which handles state and federal benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps, and the $38 million Enterprise Resource Planning system for the Department of Transportation, which was to track funding, personnel and management.

The Chieftain further reported, “John Conley, deputy to the state's new chief information officer, Mike Locatis, said the problems with those five computer systems are exactly the reason Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order earlier this year giving Locatis and his Office of Information and Technology broader powers in overseeing large-scale computer projects.”

As Colorado Media Matters noted, an August 14 Rocky Mountain News article about the state's “flawed” computer systems similarly omitted their connection to the Owens administration, despite the newspaper's previous reporting.