Work on the sweeping new computer system, known as the Electronic Resource Eligibility Product (eREP), started in 2002 and was designed to replace the antiquated Public Assistance Case Management Information System that had been in place since the 1980s.

It was hailed in the government technology world as a first-of-its-kind program that could serve as a model to other states.

Once in place, it would be a centralized clearinghouse to determine eligibility and track an array of welfare payments across three state departments - including food stamps, child care, children's health insurance and others.

The price tag was projected at $70.8 million, most of it coming from the federal government. But as the project entered its final stages, it became clear the cost couldn't be met, nor could the original January 2008 completion deadline.

Project managers told legislators recently they anticipate that the project will need another $8.2 million and another seven months to finish.

"It has taken longer than initially projected and the costs have been more than initially projected," said state Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, who said he and other legislators who were briefed on the project last month are concerned about the changes.

Ken Peterson, chief operating officer for the Utah Department of Technology Services, said it's always tricky projecting cost and schedules for large, multiyear projects like eREP, and coming in within 10 percent of the budget is pretty good.

"Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't work necessarily," he said. "As we get to the conclusion of the development phase and look at the components that need to be tested and implemented, we said, 'Lets make sure, double sure, that when this goes live we put the appropriate testing, training and implementation processes in place' so the people who depend on the benefits don't suffer."

Mark Van Orden, of the Utah Department of Technology Services, said the state may have been able to meet its deadline if it added 20 more developers to the 50 now on the payroll, but it was impractical to do that for just five months.

Greg Gardner, deputy director at the Department of Workforce Services, says he expects the department to cover this year's overrun by shifting money meant for the operations of the system into the development, but it will have to go to the Legislature and ask for more money for the next fiscal year.

Utah taxpayers will likely be expected to kick in anywhere from a third to half of the overrun, depending on how much the federal government contributes. Federal health officials are expected to visit Utah later this month to review the project, Gardner said, but all indications are that they are supportive.

At this point, with more than $70 million already invested in the program, legislators are on the hook for the rest, Niederhauser said.

"It's hard to say 'no,' because you hate to see something ended without finishing it," he said. "We'd like to see it done, and we'd like to see it done within the budget, but we are committed to see it through."

It's not uncommon for major government technology overhauls to run into snags, and some have encountered much worse than eREP.

The Colorado Benefits Management System, which was supposed to serve much the same purpose as eRep, cost $223 million, but ran into major problems, leaving low-income welfare beneficiaries without their critical payments and federal officials demanded an $11 million sanction for food stamps benefits that were incorrectly paid out, according to The Rocky Mountain News.

Closer to home, the Utah Tax Commission had major setbacks several years ago while installing a new centralized tax program. The system, targeted to cost $34 million, ran into problems from the start, and an entire compliance-tracking component of the program had to be completely abandoned as costs mounted and the system failed to function. In 2002, the Legislative Auditor criticized the Tax Commission for sticking with the contractor despite the problems, and said the commission could have taken legal action to recoup its investment.

Pieces of the program are already online. Utah Cares is an online clearinghouse of public assistance providers; InfoSource is a digitized version of the welfare agencies' rules; a program that lets applicants for benefits "pre-screen" themselves before they go through the extensive application process was rolled out last year. And public assistance offices now can take applications for benefits online in their offices.

Those programs were spearheaded by IBM and Curam Software, which ran into problems of their own. Time frames for delivering the project were pushed back eight months, but the contract the company signed was "fixed cost," so the state refused to budge on the price.

The remaining components of the eREP system will get a test run beginning in January at the American Fork office, where the system is being developed and tested.

Gardner said it will take another 10 months after that to work out bugs they expect to have, and the system will be phased in at the various offices beginning in October 2008 and completing with the Salt Lake Valley region in April 2009.

gehrke@sltrib.com