In FY 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established the Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation to provide funding for pilot projects to streamline administration and strengthen program integrity for Federal assistance programs administered in cooperation with the states.
Under this initiative, the State of Mississippi was awarded a grant to lead the pilot implementation of the National Accuracy Clearinghouse (NAC) Portal. The objective of the pilot was to develop and implement an eligibility integrity system, consisting of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and D-SNAP (Disaster SNAP) participation data, for identifying dual participation across multiple states.
Mississippi’s Department of Human Services was the lead for this initiative. The states participating in the pilot were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Iknow and LexisNexis Risk Solutions were selected to design, develop, implement, host, and provide ongoing operational support for the NAC Portal.
The Iknow/LexisNexis solution consisted of the following four major components:
- Drupal™ Web Content Management System. The Drupal web content management system was used for all user interfaces and for all user-initiated functionality, such as allowing participating states to create reports, track usage, and perform single, batch, or XML searches for dual participation across the consortium states.
- High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) Technology. This proven, open-source technology has been used to build numerous contributory databases. The HPCC systems architecture incorporates data refining and data delivery clusters, as well as common middleware components, an external communications layer, client interfaces for end-user services and system management tools, and auxiliary components to support monitoring and to facilitate loading and storing of data from external sources.
- LexisNexis® Secure Data Cloud. This proven, secure, fully redundant environment hosts the NAC Portal. The LexisNexis Secure Data Cloud currently supports over 50 terabytes of data, billions of records, millions of daily transactions, and tens of thousands of active users.
- Support, Training and Maintenance. The project included comprehensive support, training, and maintenance of the NAC Portal.
One of the key aspects that contributed to the project’s success was a three-day requirements session in Atlanta. Representatives from all five State governments, USDA/FNS, and LexisNexis attended. Iknow led the identification, discussion, and documentation of detailed business and technical requirements. The final output served as the "source of truth" for the entire solution development effort.
In addition to requirements collection and overall solution design, Iknow was responsible for the complete portal design, development, and deployment. Drupal, an open source web content management (WCM) platform, was selected as the portal's primary technology.
Iknow's project-related activities included:
- Application design and development,
- User interface design and development,
- Technical development project management,
- Design and development of all reporting functionality,
- Help documentation, online help, and help desk,
- Training, and
- Portal maintenance.
The new system supports state-level eligibility determinations and reduces fraud.