Cost of problem-plagued computer that administers welfare soars to $294 million

The cost of the Social Assistance Management System that administers welfare and disability payments to 900,000 Ontario residents has soared to $294 million.

NDP, Conservatives blame Liberals for 'ongoing failure' of Social Assistance Management System

Keith Leslie The Canadian Press Posted: Oct 21, 2015 10:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 22, 2015

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne came under fire from opposing parties on Wednesday after it was revealed that the cost of a problem-plagued computer that administers welfare has increased to $294 million. (Marta Iwanek/Canadian Press) (Marta Iwanek/Canadian Press)

The cost of the Social Assistance Management Systemthat administers welfare and disability payments to 900,000 Ontarioresidents has soared to $294 million.

Social Assistance Minister Helena Jacek said another $23 millionwas added after the government implemented recommendations from aPricewaterhouseCoopers report, which called for more training forfrontline staff who work with recipients.

The additional costs include $15.7 million to hire more IT staffat the ministry and to train social assistance case workers whocomplained the SAMS program was too complicated and too timeconsuming for them to use.

"They have really done a wonderful job and we've been listeningto them, and they're finding the situation stable, they can rely onit," said Jacek.

"They're being relieved of some of the manual tasks they had todo in terms of calculation of benefits and so on."

The original tab for the problem-plagued computer systemdeveloped by IBM was $242 million, but it kept growing as problemsarose with cheques sent to clients.

The province also had to give municipalities an additional $10million to cover overtime pay for staff who were dealing with upsetrecipients$20 million in overpayments last December

At one point last December, just a month after it went online,SAMS queued up $20 million in overpayments for people living onsocial assistance.

Case workers more comfortable with system

More than seven million cheques have now been issued properly,and the case workers in municipalities are much more comfortablewith the system, added Jacek.

"Through the last several months there's been additionaltraining and materials to help people feel a lot more confident,"she said. "We've ensured a lot more support is available for thefront line workers."

The province moved to SAMS after the auditor general criticizedthe previous computer system used for social assistance payments,which Jacek said had cost $745 million and didn't do nearly as muchas the new system.

"The ongoing support and maintenance of SAMS will be $55million, about $5 million less than the old system," she said."We're seeing a stable system that, at the end of the day, is goingto do what it's supposed to do."

The Progressive Conservatives said it would take 10 years beforethere's any real savings from SAMS' lower operating costs becausethe project is $50 million over budget.

"The government's SAMS implementation has been an absolutemess," said PC critic Randy Petttapiece. "It's 19 months behindscheduled and has already racked up costs of nearly $300 million."

The New Democrats blamed Liberal negligence and mismanagement forthe cost over runs and problems with the SAMS system.

"The blame for the ongoing failure of the SAMS system restssquarely on the shoulders of (Premier) Kathleen Wynne and hergovernment," said NDP critic Monique Taylor. "Unfortunately,Ontarians are stuck paying the price."

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Cost of problem-plagued computer that administers welfare soars to $294 million

NDP, Conservatives blame Liberals for 'ongoing failure' of Social Assistance Management System

Case workers more comfortable with system

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