Florida’s unemployment office has gotten rid of all of the call centers it brought on in 2020 — a decision that critics said is premature, as thousands of claims continue to pour in and applicants still struggle to get through the state’s antiquated CONNECT website.
The Department of Economic Opportunity recently cut ties with Titan Technologies, a company based in the Panhandle it had contracted with to provide up to 2,000 call reps to help the agency field calls from laid-off workers and process the backlog of claims caused by the pandemic. The original contract was for $80 million, but was later extended and increased to $162 million, according to state documents.
The DEO previously severed contracts with three other companies that were helping callers, including AECOM based in Los Angeles, United Data Technologies in Miramar and Faneuil in Hampton, Virginia. Those contracts totaled about $23 million and provided at least 1,000 call reps.
