The California Department of Social Services announced Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) has been selected through a competitive bid for the state's $168 million Electronic Benefit Transfer Services contract.
During the seven-year agreement, FIS will double the size of the surcharge-free EBT network in California, expand website services, develop mobile applications, and expand a data warehouse application to support the use of predictive analytics to detect fraud, waste and abuse, according to the department.
FIS is a banking and payment technologies provider based in Jacksonville, Fla. The vendor has made headlines in recent weeks by partnering with PayPal to develop a solution that allows customers to use a mobile banking app to make cash transactions at physical ATMs.
"This was a tough and competitive procurement process. FIS brought many features to the table that will serve California EBT clients more effectively," John Boule, director of the California Office of Systems Integration, said in a March 18 statement. "This bid will also save taxpayers as much as 34 percent on the monthly fees for operating the EBT system."
The Department of Social Services noted that low-income Californians paid more than $19 million in EBT-related surcharge fees to banks in 2014-15.
Like most states, California contracts with service providers to operate its EBT system, which manages the administration and payment processing for food and cash public benefits of more than 2.5 million people. Households receive benefits through programs such as CalFresh, CalWorks, Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, and Refugee Cash Assistance.
In the contract's scope of work, the new contractor will be tasked with adding the Women, Infants and Children benefits program into the electronic EBT system — called eWIC — and work in tandem with the contractor that will implement a new eWIC management information system.
The Office of Systems Integration manages the EBT technology system for the state. The contract is expected to be completed in spring 2016, with FIS beginning operation of the EBT system in fiscal year 2017-18. Xerox is the incumbent contractor.
