September 10, 2020 (SALEM, ORE.)—The Department of Administrative Services has announced its intent to award a contract to FAST Enterprises for the Oregon Employment Department’s unemployment insurance modernization project. “After a year-long procurement process, the Employment Department is one step closer to completing our modernization program today. These improvements will allow us to more effectively serve unemployed Oregonians and improve security. I want to remind Oregonians that while we move forward with modernization, we won’t “turn off” old systems until we are confident the new ones work. Oversight by the Oregon State Legislature and the U.S. Department of Labor are important safeguards that could highlight any possible concerns before going live,” Gerstenfeld said. The modernized unemployment system will dramatically improve the process of receiving and administering benefits to diverse populations. Modernization will provide flexibility and improvements to accessing the system, and will expand and customize the system by language, gender preference, and ADA compliance. It will also incorporate more self-service options and improved automation with personal customer service. The Oregon Employment Department has created a dedicated Modernization team, which will work with the vendor and representatives from other agencies to carry out the project. This team will also focus on ensuring that progress made on paying unemployment insurance benefits will not be halted by the modernization project.
