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* Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Secretary Mario Treto, Jr. testified today at a committee hearing we told you about yesterday…
State Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, Chair of the House Health Care Licensing Committee, will continue the process of addressing the ongoing delays in licensure processing by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), by holding a public hearing of his committee on Sep. 27 at 10:00 a.m. in room C-600 on the 6th Floor of the Michael A. Bilandic Building on LaSalle St. in downtown Chicago.
The delays have led to many professionals, including nurses and other health care workers, as well as their employers, having to worry about their ability to keep working should their licenses lapse.
* Secretary Treto dropped a bombshell about IDFPR’s efforts to fix the problem by replacing an antiquated system from the previous century…
Procurement is not an easy process, particularly one of this magnitude. It requires oversight and cooperation from other agencies. We have been working hard with DoIT, with the Chief Procurement Office and many others. We have had an extraordinary amount of back and forth over the past several months in an effort to purchase licensing software through a joint purchase master contract.
Unfortunately, as we drill down into the very specific needs that have to be met, and how we may go about the process to obtain them, we have reached a point where we don’t think the joint purchase master contract will work. That has a development that happened this week. Just this Monday. And candidly we were quite disappointed with the news.
However, we are not going to rest with this urgency to act upon us. As such, we immediately pivoted to very quickly assess the most efficient options. Fortunately, the work that we have done over the last several months to spell out how to best address all the needs of our licensees is not wasted at all. We will build on that using a different procurement method. While I’m going to be limited in the details that I can provide until the procurement process is over, due to legal concerns. I would be happy to give updates as I can.
Emphasis added and please pardon all transcription errors.
…Adding… Remember how we talked about the dire need for workforce development today? Well, getting these licenses to people is an absolutely crucial piece in the puzzle. Not good!
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 12:39 pm
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“Michael A. Bilandic Building”
I’m not sure there is a worse-named building to have a meeting about delays in services.
At least there’s the silver lining it probably won’t snow, avoiding the universe exploding from ultimate irony.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 12:47 pm
I supported a much smaller project that took 17 months from start of negotiations until the contract was finally signed. Business as usual with Dolt and Procurement.
Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:01 pm
Peoples lives are impacted if they can’t get their licenses. How did it take them months to realize they were doing the process wrong? What a disaster.
Comment by on point Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:21 pm
The inflexibility of procurement is a real problem. Illinois’ Chief Procurement Officer seems to have virtually unchecked - consistently unchallenged- power. There is zero nimbleness in a world that demands fast movement. Most of the staff of the CPOs office is paid far higher than the actual agency staff trying to run procurements in compliance with the ever-growing laws, and, too frequently the CPO staff just clicks “approve” or “deny” with virtually zero understanding of how agencies actually operate.
And, let’s be honest, the Master Contracts list is largely a waste of tax dollars - giving the advantages to the same old characters who’ve always been walking out of state buildings with bags of cash (metaphorically).
In many cases, good intentions led to the rules that exist. In practice, it is failing.
There are lots of needed changes in procurement- including a state procurement leader who puts a priority on solutions instead of vindictive stubbornness.
Comment by It’s Real Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:25 pm
==purchase licensing software through a joint purchase master contract==
It’s because it’s a generic licensing system that was entered into without thought into the individual licensing needs of each agency and now they want to shove the square peg specific agency licensing needs into the round hole that is this licensing system. There has been more than one agency that has abandoned this DoIT brainchild.
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:31 pm
I didn’t see where they mentioned the amount of money that went down the drain with it.
If there is a way to make something expensive, inefficient, complicated, and nonfunctional, Illinois will be right there.
Comment by Tequila Mockingbird Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:31 pm
Oh, great. PE licenses expire in 2 months. And my job and professional certifications require a valid PE license.
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:34 pm
“In many cases, good intentions led to the rules that exist” Well, it was good intentions to correct a problem caused by not good intentions.
Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:35 pm
“While I’m going to be limited in the details that I can provide until the procurement process is over, due to legal concerns.”
What legal concerns would exist about this, unless they’ve identified a company and are struggling with awarding a bid? Or are they trying to put together the right bid to try and find a company to do this?
Comment by NIU Grad Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:36 pm
@Skeptic - no disagreement… but there’s also no meaningful assessment to truly determine if the “resolutions” are working. If it works so well, one has to wonder why the General Assembly and their branches (Office of the Architect) aren’t subject to the same rules as the bureaucracy.
Comment by It’s Real Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:46 pm
Procurement has similar problems to hiring. Without strict rules, it is ripe for abuse and corruption. But the strict rules often feel like they have way more impact on the people just trying to do their jobs correctly, with arcane rules and processes that most people don’t understand. And the people who do understand (CMS, procurement officers, etc) are not invested in the success of the agency that needs the hiring/procurement done.
I don’t know where the right sweet spot is for each, but it never feels right, at least in my agency.
Comment by Homebody Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:50 pm
From a systems perspective, I am curious how much of the licensing process is managed by specific departments vs. the IDPR.
What are the constraints on the current system? Could they ‘toss hardware’ at the problem shorter term?
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:56 pm
Another notch in the belt of the State’s procurement system. Complex, slow, diffused responsibility and zero accountability. It is a Rube Goldberg contraption with none of the whimsy.
Comment by Derek Smalls Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:57 pm
Didn’t the State recently (~2017 or 2018) go thru a statewide upgrade to a marvelous system that ties all licensing, procurement and financial functions together? Brings Governor’s agencies and Comptroller’s budget, obligation and payment functions into one space? Make the State “streamlined and efficient”? I remember colleagues wondering how the touted system was going to handle licensing for everything from fishing to physicians. Antiquated??
Comment by Cailleach Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:10 pm
“Didn’t the State recently (~2017 or 2018) go thru a statewide upgrade to a marvelous system … ?”
Left state government to get away from it, knew it wasn’t going to “work” when the trainers acknowledged “AIS is an efficient check writing program.”
Private sector ERPs are a 50/50 proposition; odds much worse in the public sector (which have unique laws / requirements / needs). For those interested, other state governments, local governments, and the feds have numerous ERP failures that can be found online. Maybe DoIT will do some research.
Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:35 pm
Ah, SAP, the software platform gift that keeps on giving. Target stores in Canada deployed it. There are now no Target stores in Canada.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/billion-dollar-failures-how-bad-decisions-and-poor-it-killed-target-canada/
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:45 pm
Homebody has it right. The parts of Illinois State government that deal directly with the public must work with the parts that don’t. The parts that don’t are more concerned with covering their rear ends than serving the public. Give agencies more authority and when someone goes corrupt, can them, instead of more and more rules.
Comment by Sir Reel Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:56 pm
I cannot properly put into words how abysmal this State’s customer service is.
Need to renew your state-regulated professional license? Too bad. Give IDFPR a couple of months to figure out an online system. Sorry if you can’t work in the meantime.
Need to change your address on your FOID card? That’s going to take 8-10 weeks, three emails and spending an hour on hold with the State Police to accomplish.
Need help registering a boat trailer because the 90-field, 8pt font form is totally incomprehensible? That’s going to take seven phone calls, a bunch of emails and eventually a call to your state rep’s constituent services person to sort out for you.
Need a driver’s license appointment at the SoS office? Keep trying the online system day after day. It’s easier to get on Taylor Swift’s schedule.
Maybe I’d feel better about paying my state taxes if we could just get some of the basics right.
Comment by sulla Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:56 pm
Members of the General Assembly were warned both in public hearings and in private conversations when the current procurement was being put in place that they were creating a process that could not respond quickly to crises situations.
They were also told they would grind the purchasing process to a snail pace to the point bids would expire.
Lawmakers ignored the warnings in their zeal to show they were going to root out Blago era ways of doing business. They created this mess, they need to solve it whether they were in office at the time is was created or not.
Comment by Give Me A Break Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:07 pm
Trying to understand why it took months to determine the procurement path DFPR was on would not work. What changed from initial conversations that the path was workable and appropriate to the current position that it cannot work? Hoping someone with insight chimes in… not just general speculation.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:19 pm
IDFPR hired an innovation officer who spent legislative session pitching progressive consumer protection bills. Maybe IDFPR should work on the blocking and tackling of being a regulator before they set their sights on taking on the role of the Attorney General.
Comment by Franklin Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:40 pm
I assume IDFPR will, as necessary, extend existing licenses as they did with the Social Worker licenses (and I assume others) during the pandemic. Added bonus - more time to complete continuing education requirements.
Comment by stateandlake Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:43 pm
===I cannot properly put into words how abysmal this State’s customer service is.===
As long as the “solution” is not overseas call centers …
Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 6:05 pm
@Lincoln Lad. We just spent months at our agency going down a path that the CPO said to take. When we got to the end they said that we could not do the procurement that way. It does feel arbitrary and capricious.
Comment by IT Guy Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 7:23 pm
These chronic license processing delays add to the problem of the shortage of medical professionals in healthcare settings. Government bureaucracy that hurts the people.
Comment by Just fix it Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:11 pm
They have a small staff and people had left and were not replaced or replaced with someone doing two administrative jobs. I messages a person 6 times and never received a response. Job opportunities were missed. They need to hire more staff.
Comment by geogal Thursday, Sep 28, 23 @ 9:35 am