W.W. Grainger is exchanging payment information with the state using EDI after being recruited for the pilot program. A consultant hired by the state to study potential pilots determined that payment invoices would be the best candidate for a test project, and proceeded to recruit a vendor to help run the project. Intergraph apologizes for any inconvenience this error may have caused. The prestigious prize is awarded by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The center, located at the State University of New York's Albany campus, tests and evaluates systems before a large investment is made.
Prototypes also provide data on how much an agency can expect to save by installing a system.
Winners are chosen by a panel of government and private sector leaders led by William G. Milliken, former governor of Michigan. A city comptroller's report found that New York's uncompleted tax collection computer system is overdue and over cost. The project was started nine years ago so a single computer system could collect 21 types of taxes. The comptroller said the problems began when the system design was initiated before the Finance Department fully understood what the system was supposed to do. A second problem identified in the report was insufficient controls on costs.