State officials are racing a deadline to get the balky NOMADS computer system running well enough to meet federal certification.
It's an important task, because missing the Sept. 30 date could mean mean millions of dollars in fines for Nevada as well as the loss of some $75 million sunk into the project by the federal government.
Nevertheless, the real deadline remains the one each month when parents expect their child-support checks. Too often, those parents aren't getting the checks they need to keep paying the rent, buying groceries and putting clothes on the backs of their children.
And while we're talking about hundreds of dollars instead of millions, the money in those child-support checks is more important because, sometimes, it means survival.
A key obstacle to getting those checks out on time remains NOMADS. In case you aren't familiar with the massive mistake it represents, NOMADS has so far cost Nevada more than $130 million for technology that was outdated nearly a decade ago.
The idea of a single system to link social-welfare systems - and keep track of deadbeat parents when they move from state to state - was a good one. The mistake was in trying to program a mainframe system in an era when, for the same money, the state could have bought Internet access and five PCs for each of its employees.
Some day, state leaders can look at scrapping NOMADS and come up with something functional. For now, though, they must play the hand they're dealt.
The experts who have been working on NOMADS to get it ready for the deadline at the end of the month say it'll pass certification. The most important test, they say, is whether the system can process benefits for people who deserve them and get the payments out.
We don't much care if federal inspectors say it passes the test. We're far more interested to know if people actually get their checks.