Orlando Sentinel
TALLAHASSEE - Florida’s online unemployment system was never tested to meet the demands encountered during the coronavirus pandemic, and more than a dozen issues remained outstanding years after the system went live, according to a report released Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
The 95-page draft report by Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel focused on the Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT unemployment system, which cost $78 million and began operating in 2013. The system largely crashed last spring when it was inundated with claims as businesses shut down because of the pandemic.
In addition to issuing findings, Miguel recommended the state update what is known as the “System Disaster Preparedness Plan” for the unemployment system to incorporate lessons from the pandemic, strengthen administrative and physical infrastructure and consider moving the system’s data to a cloud service “to allow for greater scalability.”
Report Shows Longstanding Problems With Florida Unemployment System wuwf.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wuwf.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Department of Economic Opportunity Director Dane Eagle presented an aggressive blueprint to revamp the struggling Connect unemployment system on Monday with a proposed expense sheet of $73.3 million over the next two fiscal years.
The results of an internal audit of Florida’s unemployment system, CONNECT, were given to state lawmakers Monday afternoon. The report emphasized the system’s flaws and the technology updates needed.