CalSAWS Focuses on Core Mission as Deadlines Loom

The California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) project is charging ahead as newly introduced deadlines loom on the horizon.

While the nearing proximity of those deadlines is intimidating, the team is focused and optimistic they’ll make them, Executive Director Julia Erdkamp told Industry Insider — California.

CalSAWS is the massive undertaking to automate human services for vital programs such as CalWORKs, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, foster care and several others across all of the state’s 58 counties. The work touches roughly 40 percent of the state’s population, people who rely on at least some form of public benefits.

When Insider talked with Erdkamp in August last year, she had a two-track focus: The first was firming up operational necessities, the second was bringing innovative technologies to bear to make the system more efficient. That work included a pilot around using generative AI for call center summarization, which is now being scaled out.

Her team’s focus now is more pragmatic and centers on beating deadlines and avoiding errors that could trigger steep penalties. New mandates related to the federal spending bill H.R.1 for all 50 states set new verification requirements around things such as work and immigration status.

“What you see is like a national shift on the areas of focus. Whereas we were looking at all these data analytics and all these things that we wanted to do — yes, we want to do those things, but they all have to be to the end goal of getting across the finish line ahead of when these policies become effective,” she said.

Some of the new verification requirements take effect as early as Oct. 1, while others follow on Jan. 1. Regardless, the timeline is extremely tight for the sort of IT work that needs to be done, Erdkamp said.

Another component of the work being done is public awareness. It’s one thing for the system to have the capabilities to deal with new verification requirements, but it's another for benefit seekers who might not know they need to take extra steps within the application process.

“Now, on the flip side, we have our public-facing portal, BenefitsCal; there are going to be changes there. If we're asking for work requirements and things like that, people have to be able to upload all these documents and things like that, which they didn't in the past. And how do we help them be aware of that so that we're not creating errors for them?” she said.

“The counties are very nervous, and rightfully so, because they understand how complex these changes are, and they're all happening at one time,” she added.

Keeping the error rate low is a high priority for CalSAWS and the counties it serves, as potential penalties could cost billions of dollars.

As far as the CalSAWS budget is concerned, funds are in the black with $340 million approved in the recent budget cycle. While there are no major solicitations planned for the future, Erdkamp said she still wants to find the innovations that will make CalSAWS better and integrate cutting-edge technologies.

She said that she is open to exploring potential use cases, especially ones that could be tested through a pilot program, but she clarified that those projects would have to address real-world challenges.

Within the last year, the organization has increased staffing, bringing on a chief technology officer and chief information officer.

“I'm looking forward to where we're at, but also where we're headed. CalSAWS has come very far,” she said.