Independent Project Oversight Report (IPOR) Rating

Key Questions

Is the project on track to satisfy the customer's business objectives?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?Uncertain

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?Uncertain

Project Overall Health

Comments

Red

The Project Overall Health rating is Red for July 2026 due to the current assessment of the following focus areas. -- Time Management and Quality continued Red: There is a significant risk to the health of the project. All remaining Milestones were due to be completed in the December 2025 – January 2026 timeframe, and several continue in the QA validation process. The backlog of product and data conversion defects are impacting Production Simulation activities. -- Governance rating was adjusted to Yellow, indicating risks/issues exist that could impact current plans and outcomes. -- Cost Management, Scope Management, Transition Readiness continued Yellow: Caution, risks/issues exist. The Annual 2027 APDU is due to the ACF in August and is in progress. The cost of Production Simulation is not reflected in the SPR 6 FAW. -- Resources, Risks/Issues, continued Green: Satisfactory, no corrective action necessary. The Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team are actively engaged. Stakeholders are regularly communicated updates and are collaborative overall. • In lieu of the previously approved Pilot, the Board-approved Production Simulation environment is planned in two phases. Phase 1 started as planned on May 4, and Phase 2 (including legacy converted data) started on June 22. As of July, 22,974 users have been invited. Of those, 12,390 (54%) users have logged in at least once. • Product delivery continues with 26 milestones complete, 10 in progress. The system scope includes core product development, infrastructure, interfaces, shared services, data conversion, scenario testing, rework based on user feedback, and design blueprints. • As of July, there are currently 8 high-priority issues. • In the project’s June 2026 Project Status Report (PSR) submission to the CDT, OTSI responses continued as “Uncertain” for the Key Questions: -- “Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?” -- “Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?”

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Yellow	The Governance rating adjusted to Yellow in July 2026. The Yellow rating is not an indicator that project governance is ineffective. Rather, the rating adjustment reflects increased risk. In this case, CWDA is formally seeking intervention outside of the established governance structure on one of the Project's most consequential decisions. The triggering condition is a governance/escalation event, and the potential consequences extend to Time, Scope, Budget, and Resources. • The last approval document, SPR 6, was approved in May 2023. -- The project schedule was re-baselined on July 3, 2024. -- The Production Simulation environment/approach was approved on December 18, 2025. • The ACF approved the FFY 2026 APDU on April 21, 2026. -- The FFY 2027 APDU is in progress, due in August. • The CWDA sent a letter to the Legislature on July 14, 2026, expressing concerns about V1 launching on October 26, 2026, referencing several risk areas. • The ACF acknowledged As-Needed APDU 2026 03 on July 3, 2026. Per the approval letter, “California has chosen to forgo federal financial participation (FFP) for the contract and will be responsible for 100 percent of the costs.” • V1 Go-Live Readiness includes four checkpoints: -- Checkpoint #1 held on June 29. -- Checkpoint #2 held on July 27. • The Production Simulation are in progress. -- Phase 1 started on May 4 with synthetic data. -- Phase 2 started on June 22 with converted legacy data, and was scheduled to start on June 8-9 (previously May 26). -- A Daily Prod Sim report is shared with stakeholders that provides feedback, defect, and incident reporting metrics. • Daily morning and evening leadership meetings occur regularly with working sessions held in between. • Seven decisions were made via the Decision-Making Framework in July: -- 628: CARES 104 Access Provisioning Approach for ILT Participants. -- 627: Format, Version Control and Timing for Training Materials and Business Process Guides. -- 625: Global Phone Codes/Numbers in CWS-CARES. -- 624: Prod Sim Deployment Plan. Option 1 -- 623: Not convert data from the Binti “Group Homes – Account”. -- 622: CWS/CMS Read-Only: User Deactivation. • Constituent engagement includes regular communications to constituents, including communications, data, external systems, and implementation activities. • ACF Monthly Report on User Engagement & Adoption – July report with key accomplishments and stakeholder topics was prepared and submitted describing June’s activities. -- Conducted Stakeholder Briefing #9 to provide project updates, readiness information, demonstrations, and stakeholder engagement opportunities. -- Advanced training readiness activities to support Production Simulation and CWS-CARES Version 1 Go-Live. -- Continued Organizational Change Management (OCM) and Business Process Redesign (BPR) activities to support organizational readiness ahead of Go-Live -- A total of 17 communications were sent to stakeholders and users • Per an SPR 6 approval condition, the project utilizes Earned Value Metrics (EVM) to monitor project health. The Total V1 Scope is measured in Function Point Equivalents (FPE). The July FPE value of 88,148 is consistent with values since December 2025.
Time Management Red	The Time Management Focus Area rating continued as Red in July 2026. • Although product milestone progress continues, delivery has not consistently aligned with baseline expectations, resulting in downstream impacts to Production Simulation activities. -- 6 milestones completed their Service Delivery Life Cycle (SDLC) activities in July. -- 10 of the 37 milestones continue in progress; most are greater than 95% done. -- 1 has been determined to not be needed (Milestone 31) • There is 1 high-priority issue for Time Management -- RI-376 (High Issue): Inadequate time to complete development for SDM and CARES Live before Mock 2. • June 2026 IV&V MAR reports findings that may impact time. -- 1.4.4.1 PaaS SI Poor Delivery Performance Increasing Schedule Risk and Declining Quality. -- 1.5.27 Agile Planning and Delivery Misalignment Risk. • Sprint metrics vary between the State PMO and PaaS SI. -- State PMO monitors overall Sprint metrics for inclusion in the monthly PSR. Historical Overall Sprint Velocity (percentage of user stories completed versus committed) is 26.05 = 36%, 26.06 = 47%, 26.07 = 100%. • The monthly PSR is reporting “uncertain” that project objectives will be achieved within the approved timeframe. • The project maintains adequate control of the (Microsoft Project) V1 Schedule. State and Contractors’ staff collaborate and meet weekly with a standing agenda. Changes to Finish Dates require approval by the Project Director. • The project's performance in achieving the remediated and re-baselined project schedule is reported by PaaS SI to be on track. As of July end: -- PaaS SI schedule variance metrics show the overall project is on track at 97% (+3% from last month) complete, with 142 tasks Overdue and 21 Behind Schedule. • As per the SPR approval conditions, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) decreased to 0.990 as of July 15, indicating the project is on schedule with a variance of less than 5% from the target of 1.0.
Cost & Contract Management Yellow	The Cost & Contract Management rating continued as Yellow in July 2026. • The monthly PSR is reporting “uncertain” that project objectives will be achieved within the approved budget. • State funding is approved for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-2026 and 2026-2027: -- Spring Finance Letter (SFL) 2026-2027 BCP was approved in the budget signed by the Governor on June 30, 2026. -- SFL 2025-2026 BCP was approved in the budget signed by the Governor on June 27, 2025. • The FFY 2026 APDU was approved by ACF on April 21 and is only for baseline costs. -- FFY 2027 APDU in progress, due in August. -- As-Needed APDU 01 was approved by ACF on April 21 to amend Financial Management Services, IV&V, and Security Testing Services contracts. -- As-Needed APDU 02 was acknowledged by ACF on April 21 to amend PaaS SI, PVS, CDI, and Implementation services. Federal funding was not requested. -- As-Needed APDU 03 was acknowledged by ACF on June 3, informing ACF of the new Implementation Services contract. Federal funding was not requested. -- As-Needed APDU 04 was submitted on May 4, requesting approval to amend ancillary contracts. -- As-Needed APDU 05 was submitted on June 15, providing copies of executed agreements for PVS and CDI contract amendments. -- As-Needed APDU 06 was submitted on June 15, providing copies of executed agreements for CMA, SDM, PVS, and CDI contract amendments. • On December 18, 2025, the Board of Directors approved a Production Simulation Readiness approach for V1. The total estimated cost of $86.9 million includes $14.9 million for the Production Simulation and $72 million for implementation services. These costs are not delineated in the last approved FAW. • The Total Project Costs approved with SPR 6 are $1,711,011,443 with One-Time Costs of $1,228,909,579, Continuing Costs of $301,567,793, and Future Operations Costs of $180,534,071. -- Total One-Time Cumulative Expenditures are reported as $740,364,583. -- SFY 2025-2026 Cumulative Expenditures reported in July are $254,114,349. -- SFY 2026-2027 Cumulative Expenditures not yet reported. • As per an approval condition, the Project is using EVM to gauge performance. -- The 1.260 CPI reported as of July 15 is consistent with expenditures less than budgeted. The variance from the target 1.0 remains above 10% but is below the peak CPI of 1.378 in August 2025. • There are currently 13 service contracts for delivery of the CWS-CARES solution. -- 5 procurements are planned or in progress. -- 3 contract amendments are in progress.
Scope Management Yellow	The Scope Management rating continues to be Yellow in July 2026. V1 scope may require changes to maintain the V1 Go-Live date, which would likely impact the V1 stabilization period and the V2 scope and timeframe. • The CWDA letter raises questions regarding the commitment of ~300 user stories determined to be essential, which may not be done prior to Go-Live. • There is 1 high-priority issue for Time Management -- RI-380 (High Issue): A committed delivery plan for the remaining scope is not established. • SPR 6 approval condition #1 is partially satisfied. -- The PMO continues to provide monthly extracts of the CARES Version 1 (V1) product scope. -- V2 scope definition is delayed, dependent on V2 procurement, which is currently on hold. • The July V1 Scope Extract prepared by the project illustrates that the V1 product functional scope is organized by four Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) cycles and consists of 4,201 (+1 from last month) user stories categorized into 37 product and interface Milestones (plus Rework, Forms, and Shared Services), 95 Building Blocks, and 347 Epics. IPO observes: -- 3,840 (91% of total) user stories have completed the SDLC phase. -- 1,610 (90% of EUST 3) out of 1,784 user stories specific to EUST 3 are Done. • There are 8 external interfaces in scope. 3 are SDLC complete, and 5 are in progress. • There are 3 major IT systems used by one or more counties for which Data Conversion (DC) activities are in progress. • Development of 438 Statewide forms continues in progress. • County-specific forms continue in progress by counties, supplemented by vendor support, using a dedicated county development environment maintained by CWS-CARES. 627 (19%) forms are development complete as of July 10.
Resources Green	The Resources rating continued Green in July 2026. • Key consulting contracts that provide specialized, skilled contract staff supporting the project are available for implementation and readiness activities leading to Go-Live. • The approved FY 2026-2027 budget allocates 131 positions, an increase of 5 positions above FY 2025-2026. • The project’s overall position vacancies adjusted to 5% in July, with 1 hire made. This is within the Project’s goal of 10%. • Total primary vendor resources increased to 818 (+61) staff, including: -- PaaS SI – 416 (+19) -- CDI – 187 (+20) -- PVS – 48 (-1) -- Implementation (KPMG) – 160 (+25) -- QA/Testing – 7 (-2)
Quality Red	The Quality rating continued Red in July 2026. 10 product milestones are overdue and remain in QA at over 95% complete. Users may experience challenges in Prod Sim from unresolved product and data conversion defects. • The project is responding to 5 high-priority issues related to Quality. -- RI-378 (High Issue): RBAC Gaps for Sealed/Sensitive Records: High Defects; Converted Data Untested. -- RI-345 (High Issue): Insufficient QA capacity to support Build Drop volumes. The current QA velocity is not sufficient to complete testing of all stories and retest corrected defects to support EUST 3. -- RI-344 (High Issue): Separation of Business Rules. -- RI-342 (High Issue): Issues identified by Salesforce Code Quality Review. Salesforce's code analysis has identified several quality issues that need resolution. -- RI-339 (High Issue): Automation Regression Test (ART) execution failures are poor and do not show an improvement or an improving trend. The ART execution results have shown a trend of failures across most Milestones that have passed manual validation in the QA environment. • IV&V observations continue unresolved, including: -- 1.2.6 Big Bang Go-Live Risks -- 1.5.26 Incomplete Implementation of Safety Alerts Feature in CARES -- 1.5.28 Cyclic Defect Dependencies and Improper Defect Traceability • The QA completion rate is 96% as of July end, indicating a positive trajectory. • Significant volume of open defects in QA. The backlog decreased from 1500+ in May to 500+ in July. -- 443 open Product defects, with 48 Critical, 165 High, 205 Medium, and 25 Low. -- 258 (58%) Product defects are a Development Fix. -- 487 open Data Conversion defects, with 141 Critical and 244 High. • Rework identified from user feedback indicates that some functionality may not fully meet user expectations, requirements, or usability standards. The V1 Scope extract also provides updates on rework. -- 741 (98%) of the total 758 Rework user stories are Done. • Automated Regression Testing is performed for selected (not all) milestones with an average pass rate of 98%. • There are 15 system environments configured for different activities, with 7 containing production data. • ADA testing continues with 14 open defects; 14 Salesforce; 0 Image Trust; 0 PaaS SI.
Risk And Issues Green	The Risks and Issues rating continued Green in July 2026. Risk and issue management is mature, with all items recorded and updated in the Risks and Issues Jira Backlog. • The CWS-CARES team is managing 34 open project-level risks and issues, including 8 high-priority issues. -- RI-380: Committed delivery plan for remaining scope is not established (Scope) -- RI-378: RBAC Gaps for Sealed/Sensitive Records: High Defects; Converted Data Untested (Quality) -- RI-376: Inadequate time to complete development for SDM and CARES Live before Mock 2 (Time) -- RI-345: Insufficient QA capacity to support Build Drop volumes (Quality) -- RI-344: Separation of Business Rules (Quality) -- RI-342: Issues identified by Salesforce Code Quality Review (Quality) -- RI-339: Automation Regression Test (ART) execution failures are poor and not showing an improvement or improving trend (Quality) -- RI-327: Long processing time for Micro-conversion may impact Cutover and Pilot planning and implementation (Transition Readiness) • Breakdown of active Risks and Issues: -- Issues: 21 (8 High, 9 Medium, 4 Low) -- Risks: 13 (0 High, 10 Medium, 3 Low)
Transition Readiness Yellow	The Transition Readiness rating continued Yellow in July 2026. • The project is responding to one high-priority issue related to Transition Readiness. -- RI-327: Long processing time for Micro-conversion may impact Cutover and Pilot planning and implementation. • IV&V observations continue unresolved, including: -- 1.2.6 Big Bang Go-Live Risks • Production Simulation key onboarding dates communicated to County stakeholders. -- June 22: onboard EUST 3 Participants, County Admin, DC validation -- July 6: County requested users, Forms/Reports developers, Data extract agencies. Total number of invited users is 3,483. • The Production Simulation Phase 1 started as planned with synthetic data in a V1 Readiness environment. Converted legacy data was made available on June 22. -- 10 Product Milestones are not yet done, and a large volume of critical and high-defect issues needs resolution. -- County users may experience quality issues until all V1 functionality has finished the Development and Quality Assurance phases. • Training activities are planned and will focus on two workstreams: -- Train-the-Trainer and Super Users Training to be conducted from June to August. -- End User Instructor-Led Training to be available beginning in August. • Overdue Go-Live Readiness tasks have improved since last month. -- County-Specific Forms: 627 (19%) of 2,450 forms are complete. • Readiness Checkpoint #2 was held July 27. Overall status indicates that of 90 tasks, 20% (18) are Complete, 57% (51) are On Schedule, and 23% (21) are Behind.
Conditions For Approval Green	The SPR 6 Approval Letter stipulates that the project must adhere to the following conditions (abridged language below): 1. Complete an elaboration of the Product Backlog to clarify program needs further and establish the inventory of functions and features required to complete the project. -- a) Satisfied – V1 product scope (Epics) must be elaborated into requirements (Stories) no later than October 31, 2024. IPO reviewed the materials in November 2024 and determined that they satisfy the condition. As per the CDT request, the project is also providing: 1) Tabular data that demonstrates completion progress and adjustments in total stories by milestone in future Project Status Report (PSR) and Quarterly Project Report (QPR) submissions to the CDT, commencing with the PSR due in December 2024. 2) The PSR and QPR reports include tabular data specifically on the details and progress of the "Rework" milestone stories, including identification of the original source milestone (e.g., 157 Rework milestone stories are sourced from "Milestone 03: Screening"). -- b) In Progress – “V1 reporting and V2 Epics must be elaborated into Stories no later than February 28, 2025”. On February 28, 2025, the project was submitted to the CDT materials intended to satisfy condition #1b. At that time, IPO reviewed the materials and determined it was conditionally satisfied. CDT acknowledged that the V2 Baseline scope information must be kept "procurement confidential". The project was requested to provide the CDT the following, but as of June 30, 2026, the V2 procurement is on hold: 1) An updated version of the V2 scope at the Epic/Scenario level immediately after the V2 PaaS SI contractor procurement is completed. (Date TBD) 2) An updated version of the V2 scope elaborated to the Story level immediately upon completion of V2 Business Requirements activities. (Date TBD) 2. Conduct an annual Development Progress Demonstration for stakeholders and CDT during the first quarter of each Calendar year. -- Satisfied. The most recent annual demonstrations were held on April 4, 2024, May 7, 2025, and April 30, 2026. 3. Commence Earned Value Management (EVM) reporting in the monthly Project Status Reports (PSR) and Quarterly Project Reports (QPR) submissions beginning in October 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project began reporting EVM in October 2023. The Project continues to refine the approach and calculations using Function Point Equivalents. 4. Provide a Board of Directors-approved V1 Pilot Plan to the CDT upon completion of the SPR 6 Major Milestone in September 2023. -- Satisfied. The Project Director obtained Board of Directors approval on September 28, 2023, for the initial Pilot Plan version to satisfy the CDT SPR 6 approval condition. -- Board approval is conditional, stipulating that all future iterations be returned for approval. 5. The Independent Advisor (IA) consultant must assess the efficacy of the project’s constituent engagement, communications, and adoption model and provide a report that includes improvement recommendations to project leadership, CalHHS, and the CDT by March 31, 2024. -- Satisfied. Per IPO request, the findings and recommendations were presented to executive stakeholders on June 3, 2024. 6. Provide an updated Vendor Management Plan that includes a revised Work Order Authorization (WOA) process that aligns with the PaaS SI and PVS vendor contract amendments described in SPR 6 before the amendments are executed. -- Satisfied. In August 2023, the CDT IPO team reviewed the new WOA Management Plan, which included updated WOA templates. -- Per IPO request, the WOA Management Plan was updated in October 2023 to include recurring activities, deliverables, and org readiness details for Implementation WOAs. 7. The CWS-CARES project must submit a new SPR if one or more of the following occurs: a) Estimated One-Time Cost increases by $15 million. b) Estimated Project End Date is extended by three months. c) Product scope or requirements vary by 10 percent. d) Service Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC) undergoes major changes, as determined by the CDT. -- Condition has not been triggered
Corrective Action Green	Not currently applicable

• Special Project Report 6 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 5 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 4 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 3 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 2 (pdf)
• Special Project Report 1 (pdf)