‘We have enough red tape to deal with’ - Council Chief outlines why he won’t support idea of an IT project review group

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

A motion at the June meeting of Sligo County Council tabled by Cllr Ann Higgins called for the introduction of an IT expert review group to be established to review any future publicly funded IT projects to ensure improved governance and oversight.

However, Council Chief Executive Martin Lydon was adamant the Local Authority’s executive could not support the motion as, “We have enough red tape to deal with.”

Speaking to the motion, Cllr Higgins referenced some of the most recent IT project failures including the €5.3 million by the Arts Council, €3.6 million by RTE and the latest €50m write off announced by Irish Rail on a new traffic management system may actually increase with €20m more being required to fix the system.

Cllr Higgins stated, “As a country, we cannot keep this rinse and repeat cycle where large sums of public money are being squandered and where write-offs like this mean money that could be used productively by the organisation in question is lost.

“Imagine if Irish Rail could invest the now lost €70 million in upgrading the Sligo-Dublin Line or providing an early commuter train from Longford or simply providing customers basic refreshment services on this route.”

“There is an obvious failure in the procurement and project management process where these types of IT systems cannot and are not being delivered on time and within budget.

“Perhaps the issue is on the side of the buyer, who is not clear about the scope and exact technical requirements, perhaps it’s on the side of the supplier who may not have the expertise or came in with an unrealistic budget and project plan, or perhaps it’s a combination of both, we simply don’t know.

Outlining her proposal to address wastage of public finances, Cllr Higgins said, “My suggestion to avoid similar waste of money is to introduce an IT Expert Group who can be called upon as needed to review the Request for Tender Document and engage with the buyer to make sure their technical and project requirements are realistic, achievable and have sufficient budget assigned to it and also review the tender evaluation process to ensure the supplier has a demonstrated track record in delivery of similar IT systems, and has the expertise required to deliver on time, and within budget.

Cllr Higgins stated, “There is a terrible irony here with successive failures of publicly funded IT systems as we have most if not all of the largest technology companies located in Ireland, yet we ourselves appear to lack the expertise to deliver IT Systems development/integration projects.

“We are literally tripping over ourselves with IT/Technology experts, surely, we need to avail of their expertise to stop this continuation of wastage of public money in the IT space. This is not to add another layer of bureaucracy to the process, instead it should ensure that the project runs smoothly as both parties are very clear on what they have signed up for.”

The Irish taxpayer deserves better, and they should not be continuously exposed to mounting financial liabilities due to repeated delays and systems failures

While acknowledging that there have been many successful IT projects across the public sector and not all end up in with large financial write-offs, Cllr Higgins posed the question, “How can one organization or sector do it correctly and others continue to fail badly?”

In calling for a proactive approach, Cllr Higgins noted that, “This intermediate step of an IT expert group as and when required can help address what is obviously a reoccurring issue with some, not all, large scale IT projects.

“With every failure comes learnings, but a culture of shared learnings appears to be absent. Learnings around risk and implementation practices, procurement and delivery capability, assurance and accountability, all appear to be lacking across some sectors.”

In conclusion, Cllr Higgins stated, “At a time when we are facing so many challenges around housing, transport infrastructure, health services and so on we need to ensure that every single cent is spent efficiently and effectively. The ongoing wastage of public money continues unchecked, with limited or no accountability.

“The Irish taxpayer deserves better, and they should not be continuously exposed to mounting financial liabilities due to repeated delays and systems failures. The appointment of an IT Expert Group to assist the project design, scope and technical requirements and therefore help to reshape the narrative.”

Speaking to Cllr Higgins’ motion, Cllr Thomas Walsh said, “I note the motion, and it is certainly coming from a good place, but I would have a different solution to the issue at hand with overspends - we should be sacking the civil servants that sign off on overspends.”

Sligo County Council Chief Executive Martin Lydon also expressed his reservations in relation to the motion when he said, “There are a lot of IT projects that are delivered on time and on budget. There is already a process in place where the civil service has a process where each IT project is looked at by separate people just to make sure that it will come in on budget.”

We double-check and treble-check everything, rather than making people responsible to deliver projects on time and then being accountable

Sligo County Council Chief Executive

Outlining why the Council executive would not be able to support the motion, Mr Lydon said, “The executive couldn’t support a notice of motion like this because, to be honest with you, we have enough red tape to deal with, and we do deliver projects within the Local Authority sector in budget and on time, and robustly I just think bringing in another bureaucracy piece to this will make it more difficult to deliver projects.”

Mr Lydon continued, “I just think we need to be careful when we go asking for things; why are things so expensive in this country and that is because we double-check and treble check everything, rather than making people responsible to deliver projects on time and then being accountable.

“That is what happens in the Local Authority sector; we are very clearly held accountable for delivering our projects which we do in the main. I just think you need to be careful when we start putting these notice of motions forward because it does add expense to projects.”

Prior to the debate coming to a close, Cllr Higgins said, “I take the point the Chief Executive is making and indeed I did mention there are many IT projects that do come in on budget and on time. Equally, there are still too many of them happening,” she insisted.

Cllr Higgins continued, “To Cllr Walsh’s point, I do accept there is a lack of accountability. I don’t understand how these projects are allowed to proceed endlessly and drift on and spend money. There is something wrong somewhere, in some sectors.”

Reiterating her point, Cllr Higgins outlined why she thinks an IT expert review group is necessary saying, “I don’t think it would be unnecessarily bureaucratic to have an IT expert group to look at the big IT projects. I believe there is a need for it. I counted about €65m of public money squandered already and there is more to come on this. I do think it would be useful.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.