CANADA
An audit of Canada’s Phoenix Public Service pay system has revealed “an incomprehensible failure of project management and oversight”.
The audit concluded that those in charge of Phoenix prioritised budgeting over functionality, ignored warning signs and provided an inaccurate picture to higher-ups.
Auditor-General, Michael Ferguson (pictured) laid part of the blame on the Public Service itself for being too obedient and fearing mistakes and risk, saying this culture had to change so “another scandal-plagued program like the Phoenix pay system can be prevented”.
“The Government has a choice,” Mr Ferguson said.
“It can either perpetuate the current culture and its problems — including the incomprehensible failures — or it can change that culture and reap the benefits of programs that work for people.”
He said both the current Government and its predecessor missed opportunities to stop the debacle that Phoenix would become.
Mr Ferguson also argued a flawed Public Service culture that evolved over decades was now resulting in an unbalanced power dynamic between Federal workers and their political masters, leading to mistakes and poor oversight.
Phoenix, launched by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Government in 2009 and continued under current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has struggled to deliver correct pay to PS employees.
The Auditor-General found Phoenix had so far been costlier and less efficient than the 40-year-old system it replaced, and had led to incorrect pay for tens of thousands of Federal employees.
After years of trying to manage the chaos, the Trudeau Government waved the white flag in this spring’s Federal Budget, moving to scrap the program.
Mr Ferguson said taxpayers were facing an incremental cost of more than C$1 billion (A$1.02 billion) to fix the problems Phoenix created.
The audit included several recommendations for properly implementing and overseeing Government-wide information technology projects like Phoenix, all of which the Federal Government agreed with.
In an associated development, Mr Ferguson said he was getting tired of filing annual reports recommending reforms to the way the Government does business “only to see those recommendations disappear down the memory hole”.
“It’s almost as if the Departments are trying to make our recommendations and our reports go away,” he said.
“We need to have better responses to our recommendations.”
Ottawa, 2 June 2018
