Friday, January 19, 2007

Your Sins Will Find You Out

That was a gentle moral warning my grandmother was fond of quoting, meaning no matter how clever, secret, or private you consider your misdeeds, at some point they will come to light. She was right. Read on.

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) is a worldwide data management company whose contracts include county clerk offices across America, meaning those land documents you've been recording at your local courthouse have now been fed into ACS computers worldwide.

Cook County, IL, officials suspended contract talks with ACS this past Wednesday after learning of its connection to a criminal investigation at the Las Vegas public hospital.

Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (D-Chicago) voted against the deal after learning about problems the company had in North Carolina with a government contract. (ACS had a five-year, $171 million contract to install and operate a Medicaid claims system for North Carolina that resulted in multiple unscheduled negotiations.)

"I have said since last summer that the track record of this company is not the best, to say the least," Maldonado said. And Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) said he would now have "serious concerns" about using ACS for the revenue contract.

In other ACS news, on January 12 of this year they agreed to pay Delta Air Lines more than $7.5 million dollars in cash to settle disputes arising from ACS's performance on a contract to provide the bankrupt airline with human resource support.

And last November, ACS reported the theft of a laptop from it's Denver facility, offering a $10,000 reward for its return. ACS claims that the machine was stolen from a secure facility, under camera surveillance, behind two key-carded doors.

If ACS is truly concerned about security, maybe they should reconsider outsourcing and the planned construction of a 65,000 sq ft facility in Jamaica, their second there, which they staff with locals.

A slowdown in outsourcing isn't likely to happen, according to a press release announcing ACS the proud sponsor of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), who met in Dallas last Tuesday.

Michael F. Corbett, IAOP's chairman, opened the meeting by stating, "The Dallas chapter will help to improve the outcomes companies achieve through outsourcing by advancing outsourcing as a top profession for the 21st century."

Gee, thanks, ACS.

In separate news, First American Title Insurance Company announced Tuesday that its Lenders Advantage Division has completed development of TitleSmart(TM) -- a new technology that delivers insured title commitments in less than 60 seconds. Now where would they have gotten enough documents to .. nah, couldn't be. Could it?

Anyone have any questions you'd like to ask your local county government?

If you're concerned about ID Theft, security breach, or even outsourcing, get in touch with us at www.FindMyID.com

We keep a watchful eye on county records and websites. Someone sure needs to.

www.FindMyID.com

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