(a) (1) The Legislature hereby finds and declares the Child Welfare Services-New System (CWS-NS) is the most important system in the state for child welfare services staff to ensure the safety and well-being of California’s children. The State of California has embarked upon on an agile procurement of the CWS-NS.
(2) The Legislature further finds and declares that this approach requires significant engagement with the end user throughout the life of the system, including the county human services agencies and child welfare services and probation staff.
(b) (1) The State Department of Social Services and the Office of Systems Integration (OSI), in collaboration with the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA), shall seek resources to enable the necessary level of engagement by the counties in the CWS-NS agile development and maintenance process to prevent the disruption of services to families and children at risk. This shall include, but not be limited to, timely and expeditious execution of contracts and contract amendments for participation in this effort, effective monitoring and evaluation of the CWS-NS effort, and implementation of mitigation strategies for risks and issues arising in the procurement, development, implementation, or operation of digital services pursuant to this section.
(2) The department and OSI shall provide a voting seat on all governance bodies of the CWS-NS for a CWDA representative and shall support and provide necessary accommodation for the stationing of county representatives at the project site.
(3) The department and OSI shall continue to provide monthly updates to the Legislature and to stakeholders, including CWDA, regarding efforts to develop and implement the CWS-NS. The updates shall include, but not be limited to, (A) the vacancy rate, the duration of each vacant position and its classification, and the status of efforts to fill the position, (B) challenges with recruiting and retaining qualified staff and a description of efforts to resolve the issues, (C) challenges with procurement, including any delays, and a description of efforts to resolve the issues, (D) any issues or risks, including, but not limited to, pending state and federal approvals and impacts on county child welfare programs that may jeopardize the project’s completion or result in delays relative to the approved project schedule, budget, and scope, and (E) progress on the project, by digital service (module) along with a description of each digital service, and projected completion dates for any significant upcoming project milestones. Following the effective date of this section, a list of newly executed contracts, their purpose, and amounts shall be added to the monthly update.
(4) The department and OSI, in coordination with CWDA and the Department of Technology, shall convene a regularly scheduled quarterly forum to provide project updates to stakeholders and legislative staff. These forums shall include updates on (A) the progress of the CWS-NS development and implementation, (B) expenditures incurred to date, (C) significant issues and risks overcome in the last quarter and significant issues and risks presently being addressed, (D) upcoming project milestones and significant events, (E) how the agile approach has affected the project’s overall cost and schedule, (F) how the Department of Technology’s approval and oversight processes are being applied to the agile implementation approach, and (G) how lessons learned from the agile implementation of the CWS-NS project can be leveraged by other state IT projects.
(c) The existing Child Welfare Services Case Management System (CWS/CMS) operations and functionality shall be maintained at a level at least commensurate with its December 2015 status and shall not be decommissioned prior to the full statewide implementation of the CWS-NS in all counties. Full statewide implementation is defined as after all existing CWS/CMS functionality has been replaced in CWS-NS and has been implemented in all 58 counties for a minimum of six months with no significant (noncosmetic) defects outstanding.
(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 25, Sec. 26. (AB 1603) Effective June 27, 2016.)