For the second time in less than a week a state agency says it's scrapping a multi-million dollar computer program that doesn't work.
The Revenue Department is the latest. 28-million dollars to fix a computer upgrade down the drain. A few days ago Workforce Development scrapped its unworkable system. The UW System did the same last year.
Senator Rob Cowles thinks he knows why this is happening now. A legislative audit. Cowles says the agencies are trying to clean their dirty laundry now before the report comes out.
The Green Bay Republican pushed for that audit which he hopes will provide answers on how to avoid more waste. But he feels the vendor contracts need more scrutiny and more legislative oversight.
Cowles says there was no oversight back in the 90's when these agencies started upgrading computer systems all at once and kept dumping more money into them hoping they could be fixed. Cowles says if it weren't for whistleblowers we'd probably be wasting even more money.
The audit is due sometime in April.
