DCFS e-Program Statement Submission System

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) e-Program Statement Submission System (e-PSSS) is a web-based system that allows potential Out-of-Home placement contractors to submit their program statements on-line. The e-PSSS was implemented and released for use on November 18, 2016 and received its first electronic submission on November 23, 2016. The e-PSSS was developed to facilitate information sharing and communication between placement contractors, and the following three Los Angeles (LA) County Departments: DCFS, Department of Mental Health (DMH), and the Probation Department (Probation). A unified system was designed to streamline the program statement submission process, do more efficient reviews by the three LA County Departments, and eliminate the cost and time of printing and the delivery and storage of program statements. Most importantly, the e-PSSS drastically reduces staff time as multiple sections can be reviewed simultaneously by different reviewers in different locations. The e-PSSS allows potential placement contractors to submit their electronic program statements into the system instead of having to print out and deliver a document of several hundred pages long. In addition, this system allows the three Los Angeles County Departments to review their respective portion(s) of the program statement concurrently thereby saving valuable time. Finally, the e-PSSS allows for the reviewer to provide real-time feedback to the submitter in order to make quick real-time corrections or additions and re-submit these electronically. The high-level of efficiency and productivity made possible by the e-PSSS has allowed DCFS, DMH and Probation to review more program statements in a shorter amount of time, making it possible for them to approve more placement providers for children in foster care and in the juvenile justice system.