The surge in unemployment claims brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic produced a welcome side effect for some major accounting firms—big paydays for their tech consulting and government service businesses.
State unemployment agencies in California, New York, and elsewhere spent millions this year hiring contractors to help upgrade or expand their claims-processing systems, staff-up call centers, and assist with fraud prevention and investigation.
The 11 states where Bloomberg Law confirmed terms of the deals agreed to spend a combined $173.8 million on contracts with Accenture, Deloitte, and EY. Deloitte dominated those contracts, with $141.1 million of the total.
The contracts ...