The man in charge of the development of California’s Centralized Revenue Opportunity System or CROS submitted his resignation to the Board of Equalization or BOE effective 9/23. The $309M CROS project is intended to “expand the tax-collecting agency’s online capacity, streamline operations, improve accuracy and deploy advanced data analysis to find errant tax filers and cheats.”
The lead consultant for CROS had publicly criticized the California Department of Technology for its bureaucratic oversight and the resulting waste of time and $2.8M in additional costs. Management within California’s tax agencies moved swiftly to “reposition” leadership on the CROS project, while eliminating the consultant from further reports to the Departement, in effect removing him from reporting and leadership responsibilities.
The move has been a considered a victory for the status quo of California’s state bureaucracy and a serious setback to the CROS project both in terms of time and cost.