Former manager on Montana’s POINTS doesn’t endorse off-shoring

A manager for one of Montana’s most disastrous off-shored computer programs has some advice for decision-makers considering another state information technology contract that includes shipping work to foreign employees overseas: Don’t do it.

“The outsourcing is a bad idea,” said David Clague, a retired software engineer who managed two parts of a failed Department of Revenue computer system known by its acronym as POINTS.

POINTS, undertaken in Gov. Marc Racicot’s second term, cost Montana an estimated $60 million in the software, which was abandoned in 2005, and in lost tax revenue.

JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_c0292ca6-d349-11de-9227-001cc4c03286.html

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Tax software firm: Most work will happen here

A company that drew headlines recently for proposing to do some Montana tax-funded computer programming with foreign workers overseas intends to complete more than three-quarters of the work in Montana.

That information came out at a meeting Monday of the Legislature’s Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee, a panel of lawmakers that meets between legislative sessions to discuss human services issues.

JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_f0c056fa-d349-11de-a7ed-001cc4c03286.html

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Off-shoring: Is it good for Montana? Economist looks at shipping IT jobs overseas http://matr.net/article-36747.html