Report 2020-128/628.1 Recommendation 9 Responses

Report 2020-128/628.1: Employment Development Department: EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns (Release Date: January 2021)

Recommendation #9 To: Employment Development Department

To continue providing timely payment of benefits to Californians in need while also effectively responding to the Department of Labor's directive regarding immediately resuming all eligibility determinations and resolving all suspended determinations, EDD should do the following:

-Develop a workload plan that prioritizes its deferred workloads based on the risk assessment and determine the staffing and IT resources needed to accomplish the work within expected time frames.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch has utilized the risk assessment developed by Accenture to develop a workload liquidation plan of its deferred workloads. In August 2021, the Employment Development Department (EDD) released a Request for Quote (RFQ), and in September 2021, the vendor, Maximus, was selected to execute the Statement of Work. Using the risk assessment developed by Accenture and the liquidation hours used in the RFQ, the EDD has developed a workload plan to address prospective workloads (to assist current workload inventories), deferred eligibility determinations, deferred Employer Protests, and retroactive certifications. In collaboration with the vendor, Maximus, the Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division will monitor, manage, and proactively forecast workload and staffing assignments to liquidate these workloads timely.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

EDD has developed a workload plan that prioritizes its workloads based on the risk assessment and relevant timelines and identifies the staffing and related resources needed to address its deferred work.

We will continue to monitor EDD's implementation of that plan in Recommendations 10 and 11.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) is working in line with the risk assessment being conducted by Accenture, including the data being collected, to begin the development of a workload plan to prioritize the deferred workloads. In addition, the UIB will determine the staffing needs and Information Technology resources required to accomplish the workload within expected timeframes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The department has resumed processing eligibility determinations and has acquired a vendor, Accenture, to develop a risk assessment of all deferred workloads. The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) will develop a workload plan that prioritizes the deferred workloads based on risk and determine the staffing needs and IT resources required to accomplish the work within expected timeframes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2020-128/628.1

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.