The report by former auditor general Denis Desautels suggests the province limit start-ups of electronic services projects and "significantly" improve the way it manages their development in order to save taxpayers money. It also suggests the Ontario government has its own staff manage the projects from beginning to end, rather than leaving the fate of projects in the hands of the private sector. And it suggests contracts with private IT developers include "off ramps" that allow the government to terminate a deal with an underperforming partner.
"Experience shows that you're almost better off (having a project managed) from someone inside rather than an outside provider," Desautels said Thursday at the Ontario legislature.
Generally, Desautels said Ontario does a fair job at developing and maintaining so-called e-services -- which can include everything from giving police online access to criminal records, to allowing anglers to obtain fishing licences electronically.
He also said difficulties Ontario has encountered in getting IT projects completed on time and on budget aren't unique to the province.
But he also feels Ontario has room to improve given that some projects go way over budget. For example, developing the system which monitors and calculates payments for people on welfare went $70 million over the $180-million budget it was allotted in 1997. The same year, a project providing online information for lawyers, police and other legal officers cost $170 million, well above the $149 million budget.
Desautels said he wasn't blaming the private sector for cost overruns on private-public projects. But he said it makes more sense for the government to manage projects since it has a more obvious need to control costs.
"It's not a question of trust, it's a question of what makes most sense," he said.
Some projects are cancelled before completion at a cost of millions of dollars. The project to develop so-called smart cards, which would incorporate a driver's licence, health card and identification card, cost the province $15 million before it was cancelled several years ago.
"In my experience, they happen," Desautels said of project cancellations. "I can remember some at the federal level that have been cancelled after spending substantial amounts of money."
Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips said the province will immediately look to improve how it manages IT projects and will review Desautels' recommendations in coming months.
He called going over budget on past projects "unacceptable."
"It's (the question of) how we avoid those situations that triggered us asking the task force to look at it," he said.
Phillips said the government will call immediately for quarterly status reports on major projects, design a "scorecard" system to assess project risks, improve training for project managers and ensure larger projects undergo a post-mortem within three months of completion.
Autor: Steve Erwin
Quelle: CNews, 29.07.2005
