Oklahoma food stamp queries being answered by call centers in India

Tuesday, April 27th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Call centers in India are answering calls from Oklahoma food stamp recipients, and taxpayers are paying about $2 million a year for jobs to go to another country.

"This is a surprise to me," said Rep. Darrell Gilbert, D- Tulsa, who is chairman of the House Committee on Human Services. "Certainly, I'm opposed to it. I think it bears looking into."

When Oklahomans initially need assistance with food stamps, they call a county office. After they have been approved, they are referred to call centers in India for assistance.

Bylinda Johnston, who uses the food stamp program, said someone in Oklahoma should working to help her with her questions.

"I should be able to talk to somebody that's here," the Del City woman said. "How can somebody in India know what's going on with someone here? They don't know what's going on here or what our problems are."

Oklahoma Department of Human Services officials said Affiliated Computer Services won the call contract more than six years ago. ACS then subcontracted with Citicorp.

In 2000, Citicorp subcontractors moved call centers from Tampa and Texas to India and Mexico, according to the company's Web site.

Officials from Affiliated Computer Services were not available for comment Monday.

The contract expires in March 2005 and will be out for bid again. This time, officials said they will require that the jobs stay in the United States.

Under the current contract, ACS is paid $1.99 a month for food-stamp cases and $1.93 per month for TANF cases, regardless of the amount of calls they receive from Oklahomans.

This past month, the state had about 70,000 food stamp cases and 15,000 TANF cases, said Lisa Henley, DHS finance division project director.

Although the food stamp program is federally funded, the state pays administrative costs, Henley said.

Critics say sending state contract work to other countries hurts Oklahomans.

But the cost increases when the state requires call center workers to be in the United States.

Oklahoma pays $5.24 per month, per authorization, to call centers in the United States that answer questions about the state's electronic debit cards used for child care subsidies.

Henley said the contracts are a dilemma for state officials who need to stretch budget dollars but don't like to see jobs outsourced to foreign countries.

"It's a double-edged sword," Henley said. "If we require that jobs stay in the United States, the cost is going to be a whole lot higher. If we don't require that, the contractor can -- like in this case -- send the jobs wherever they want."

While she didn't have specific numbers, Henley said complaints about customer service have increased since the jobs were outsourced to India.

Henley said the specifications for the new call center contract for food stamp and TANF inquiries will require the jobs to be in the United States.