U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

CGI Improves HUD’s Performance Levels Through Contract Administration Outsourcing

“CGI took the complicated HUD regulations and turned them into an efficient program that really works. Ohio landlords can talk to a live person now because CGI is committed to customer service and meeting their needs.”

Suzanne Cochran, General Manager of Contract Administration, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oversees thousands of Section 8 and multifamily properties throughout the country. Section 8 is a HUD program that provides affordable housing to low-income individuals and families.

The Challenge
HUD sought administrative outsourcing from qualified public housing agencies when understaffing left the agency facing property management difficulties. The agency tapped Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) in partnership with CGI, to provide contract administration outsourcing for all HUD Section 8 properties in the State of Ohio. Since CGI took over day-to-day operations, Ohio’s performance results have complied with HUD’s contract, allowing HUD to decrease its monitoring of operations.

How CGI Helped
CGI formed a contract administration consortium with eight top-performing housing authorities in Ohio, called the Assisted Housing Services Corporation (AHSC), a non-profit subsidiary of CMHA. With AHSC partners handling administrative functions, CGI developed the Contract Administration Tracking System (CATS) application to generate the large volume of reports needed for benchmarking and invoicing. CGI also created a contact center to address client questions or complaints and deliver superior customer service

Results
HUD avoided the potential repercussions of understaffing by implementing a performance-based management structure and outsourcing its contract administration. HUD recognized AHSC as a top performing contract administrator in the nation within its first year of operations. Within 120 days of winning the contract, AHSC was:

• Calculating Section 8 rental subsidies
• Administering project-based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts
• Enforcing owner obligations to provide decent housing for eligible families

The bottom line: CGI improved HUD’s performance in Ohio through an innovative consortium of housing authorities and technology system to effectively manage HUD’s contract administration outsourcing requirements.