After testing of a massive state payroll computer system “exposed a system riddled with grave weaknesses,” the State Controller’s Office (SCO) fired the contractor, SAP Public Services, and asked for $50 million back.
The 21st Century Project has cost the state $254 million since 2005 and isn’t close to working. The project, MyCalPays, is supposed to replace the poorly-connected computer systems that the controller’s office uses to pay approximately 240,000 civil service employees. When, or if, completed, MyCalPays would handle payroll for 160 agencies and integrate six different human resources systems.
Project administrator Jim Lombord was quoted as telling SAP in an October letter that the $371 million projected was “foundering and in danger of collapsing.” The letter said SAP had missed nine of its 44 deadlines in 2011. SAP was hired in 2010 when the initial contractor, BearingPoint, was fired after collecting $26 million.
The technological failure echoes the March 2012 cancellation of the billion-dollar California Court Case Management System (CCMS) after the state had expended $500 million. CCMS was to replace 70 different systems already in place—many of which cannot talk to each—and result in a single system for all 58 Superior Courts while enabling the public to e-file documents, access information and make payments via the internet.
The controller’s office said it was terminating the SAP contract after eight months of failed tests, which seemed all the more remarkable because they only involved 1,300 employees with fairly simple payroll requirements. Paychecks were sent to the wrong person for the wrong amount, some medical coverage got canceled and child-support payments were sent to the wrong beneficiaries. Almost one-third of the employees incurred problems in the June test.
While SAP expressed “extreme disappointment” to the Los Angeles Times for the state’s move, 1,300 employees who weathered the pilot program probably feel a bit better.
The controller’s office announced it is moving the workers back into the old system which, it assured, is “reliably paying all other 240,000 State employees.”
–Ken Broder
To Learn More:
California Fires Contractor on Troubled Computer Project (by Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times)
21st Century Project (California State Controller)
Overhaul of California Government Payroll System at Risk of Collapse (by Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times)
Another State Technology Project Goes Awry; This One Costs $371 Million (by Ken Broder, AllGov)