DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The federal government and the state of California are expected to realize a combined cost avoidance of more than $20 million dollars annually from the implementation of a state electronic benefit transfer (EBT) program deployed by Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS).



“We’ll now work equally as hard to continuously improve the program to provide the best possible experience for both the state and its citizens.”



The state’s EBT program, one of the largest in the nation, allows 1.3 million Californians to receive benefits from a number of public assistance programs on the “Golden State Advantage” card. The card can be used at more than 21,000 retailer locations or 50,000 ATMs, increasing convenience and security for recipients while reducing costs for the state.



ACS recently implemented the program for the state as part of a seven-year contract, which includes three optional one-year extensions.   Benefits included in the program are food assistance, both the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the California Food Assistance Program, and cash benefit programs such as California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), Refugee Cash Assistance, General Assistance/General Relief, and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants.



ACS services under the contract include transaction processing, data center services, training of state and county staff, reconciliation and settlement, and reporting. ACS also supports Californians by providing an automated call center response unit, as well as live customer service support.



“With this on-time, on-budget implementation, ACS has again shown its ability to successfully manage complex programs,” said Joseph Doherty, executive vice president and group president of ACS Government Solutions. “We’ll now work equally as hard to continuously improve the program to provide the best possible experience for both the state and its citizens.”



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 level.



The work of ACS touches millions of people every day. ACS processes more than half of the nation’s child support payments; manages 24 electronic payment card programs for state and federal clients, disbursing government payments and benefits; processes nearly 570 million Medicaid claims each year totaling more than $50 billion in provider payments; saves state child care programs millions of dollars; services student loans for more than 11 million borrowers; and facilitates more than 75 million online searches for unclaimed property per year.