RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Companies hired to help find waste, fraud and abuse in North Carolina’s Medicaid program are recovering far less in overpayments than had been projected, the state auditor’s office said Thursday.

Software provided by IBM Corp. and SAS Institute Inc. was projected to uncover improper payments amounting to $81 million, state Auditor Beth Woods’s office said, but the IBM contract resulted in $427,000 recovered and the SAS deal recovered zero by the end of January.