ACS awarded Illinois contract to expand electronic payment card

DALLAS--The Illinois Department of Human Services will use Affiliated Computer Services Inc.'s electronic payment card solution to improve the distribution of state payments to child care providers and specialized personal assistants. The five-year agreement with the state of Illinois expands the market of ACS' EPC program and demonstrates how electronic payments can benefit government agencies and their constituents.

Related Results

With ACS' EPC program, IDHS will be able to accelerate payments to recipients by using a reloadable MasterCard debit card accepted by thousands of retailers and at ATMs nationwide. The card will be offered as an option to traditional paper checks for payments to service providers participating in the state's Child Care Assistance Program, which offers quality, affordable child care to families. Additionally, it will be available to personal assistants who help with household tasks and personal care to people with disabilities.

ACS serves 4 million cardholders with 24 EPC programs for state and federal clients, disbursing payments for programs such as child support, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, unemployment insurance, disability and state employee payroll. The addition of child care providers and personal assistants will significantly expand the use of EPC services. ACS' EPC solution is also available to health care providers as a more convenient method of payment delivery.

ACS' agreement with the state of Illinois demonstrates the flexibility of our electronic payment card solution and how we can help government agencies with innovative and creative solutions," said Joseph Doherty, executive vice president and group president of ACS Government Solutions Group. "We anticipate that this project will become a model for other states."

As the largest provider of business process solutions and one of the largest information technology service providers to the nation's public sector, ACS serves as an operational partner to more than 1,700 government agencies on the federal, state, county and local levels.