Special Minister of State Chris Steel has apologised to the public for a failed government IT project that cost $77.7 million before it was abandoned.
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The program to upgrade the government's human resource management system "had multiple failings at all levels", Mr Steel said.
"The government must improve and do better to manage future ICT projects in the territory and I want assure Canberrans that we are addressing the clear lessons learned from this program," he told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
Mr Steel said future ICT projects would have more clearly defined roles and responsibilities for those involved and work had been completed to improve procurement record keeping.
"The HRIMS Program was developed in 2017 in response to earlier findings by the Auditor-General about improvements needed to ACT payroll and human resource systems," Mr Steel said.
"The program faced a range of avoidable and unavoidable challenges. The scale and complexity of the change required was underestimated.
"During the COVID-19 pandemic, officials across the public service with responsibility for human resource functions reprioritised their work and engagement with the program."
The ACT Auditor-General in December strongly criticised the handling of the project, finding it was a "significant failure for the territory".
Only one module of the program was ever delivered until it was terminated midway through 2023. The original program had been costed at $15 million and approved in the 2107-18 ACT budget.
Mr Steel said he made a decision in 2021 to pause the program, prompting three separate reviews into its progress.
SAP reviewed the design of the project, which was based on its own software, in 2021, recommending two major changes.
Deloitte reviewed the program in 2022 finding the task of the program was not well understood and that different parts of the ACT government had a limited appetite to make it easier to implement the whole-of-government solution.
A final independent consultants' report in 2023 found the need to improve governance and set out who was responsible for key roles on the project.
"These reviews, and a reconsideration of the requirements of the ACT Public Service, led to the decision by the government, not to 'reset' the HRIMS program, to get it back on track, but to end the program in the 2023-24 Budget," Mr Steel said.
"The decision we made to end the program is a responsible one and will avoid an estimated additional cost of $140 million of continuing to implement the HRIMS program.
"Instead, we will invest in upgrades to our existing payroll and human resource systems, CHRIS21 and HR21, and will develop a new time and attendance system, at less risk and a lower cost to the Territory. This new program is known as the payroll capability and human resource management (PC HRM) program."
The government has introduced a new design and delivery guide for ICT projects, stricter governance requirements, and a clearer requirement to assess the time needed to complete upgrade projects.
"Several initiatives have been put in place that will mitigate the risk of decisions being made with partial or incomplete information, and guard against a reoccurrence [sic] of this instance," the government said.
The government's response to the audit said the new human resources project would incorporate all the recommendations from the abandoned HRIMS project.
"The ACT government is confident in the ability of the [ACT public service] to embrace and apply the lessons learned from the HRIMS project across all future ICT project, and in the process build a robust risk culture that promotes transparency, human centred design, stakeholder inclusion and a commitment to best practice project and program management," the government's response said.
The Opposition has repeatedly called for Mr Steel to resign or be sacked by Chief Minister Andrew Barr over the project.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
