The state’s Judiciary has received $700,000 from about $1.7 million spent on a failed information technology project intended to modernize the court’s paper-based case management system.
Utah-based IT company New Dawn Technologies settled with the state over the disputed contract, initially signed in December 2009, with New Dawn paying the Judiciary $700,000, according to deputy court administrator Patricia Gabel.
“The Parties acknowledge each other’s good faith, but recognize that their work together did not work out as either had intended,” Gabel wrote in a memo to judiciary colleagues. “The Parties agree that this resolution is a fair resolution and wish each other the best going forward.”
The Judiciary made its last payment to New Dawn for the JUST WARE program in March 2011. It had spent $1.7 million of a contract initially projected to cost $4.3 million.
The project gradually halted as New Dawn delayed delivering promised results, Gabel told VTDigger. Court administrators eventually decided the revamp could not be completed within the original timeframe and budget.
Neither New Dawn representatives nor Gabel could be immediately reached for comment.
Last week Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber told the House Appropriations Committee that the lack of a digital case management system had significantly strained the state’s court system and its budget, at a time of fewer state courts employees.
It’s unclear now how the Judiciary will proceed in modernizing court records administration. Gabel told colleagues in late November that the judiciary would be evaluating its options.