Nevada reluctantly OKs Xerox contracts

CARSON CITY — Gov. Brian Sandoval voted reluctantly to support two contracts with the Xerox Corp. on Tuesday to provide services for the state unclaimed property fund. The contracts are worth $7.8 million over four years.

He did so despite his displeasure with the company’s performance in implementing Nevada’s trouble-plagued health insurance exchange.

Sandoval, voting as a member of the state Board of Examiners, approved the two contracts for services that will be provided to the state treasurer’s office, which oversees the unclaimed property fund. The contracts had been held over from a previous meeting so Sandoval could get questions answered about how the firm was selected.

But the board, with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto also in support, approved the contracts. The third member of the panel, Secretary of State Ross Miller, was unable to attend.

Kimberlee Tarter, deputy administrator for the state Purchasing Division, said Xerox was the sole respondent to the smaller, $800,000 contract. There were several proposals submitted for the $7 million contract, but an evaluation committee, ranking the different firms based on criteria established in state law, scored Xerox the highest, she said.

Xerox’s performance for the health exchange was not a factor, and only limited information in the media was being reported at the time the committee ranked the proposals, Tarter said.

The new contracts require Xerox to provide unclaimed property audits and other services to the treasurer’s office. Unclaimed property is any financial asset owed to a business or individual that appears to be abandoned. Unclaimed property funds are held in trust by the treasurer’s office until claimed by an owner.

Sandoval has been critical of Xerox because of the failed implementation of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.

The exchange signed a $72 million contract with Xerox in 2012 to build Nevada Health Link. But software glitches kept legions of consumers from enrolling in plans when the health link opened on Oct. 1. The exchange enrolled just a third of the 118,000 sign-ups it targeted in its first year.

The exchange’s board decided in May to replace Xerox as the health link’s contractor. The exchange will borrow federal eligibility and enrollment functions in November while it looks for a permanent replacement system for 2015’s enrollment session.

Contact Capital Bureau reporter Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.