Phoenix payroll system doomed from the start: report

A newreport published Thursday says a lack of proper definition, oversight and accountability plagued the government's failed Phoenix payroll system from the start.

Private consulting company Goss Gilroy Inc.was commissioned by the federal government to look into what went wrong with the pay modernization system.It looked into the history of the pay transformation project between 2008 and April 2016 when the system was fully launched.

• Phoenix business case doomed from start, experts say

While the report is highly critical of the Phoenix implementation, the authors give no advice on how to fix the brokensystem right now.

For the past 18 months, tens of thousands of public servants have been underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all. Those problems are far from over.

Back in 2011, the government decided to use customized, off-the-shelf software and consolidate apay centre in Miramichi, N.B. The plan was that the new technology andcentralized system would allow the government to lay off hundreds of compensation advisors across the country and eventually save about $700 million dollars.

• Phoenix creators helped build failed pay system's business case

But once launched, the technology didn't work as expected andmore compensation advisors and satellite pay centres had to be established.

To help address these issues, the minister in charge said they arecontinuing to addmore people to manage the problem.

"We are hiring additional employees at our pay centre and satellite locations to process pay transactions," Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, said.

She added that they are working to"establish two new temporary pay offices to process transactions" in Charlottetown, P.E.I.and Kirkland Lake, Ont.

"Make no mistake, there is no easy or quick fix for the problems in the pay system," Qualtrough continued. "The well-documented history provides the reasons we are here, but I'm not offering it as an excuse. The file is ours to fix and we will."

Question Period on Phoenix

7 years ago

Duration 0:56

Justin Trudeau responds to questions on Phoenix

The GossGilroyreport found that while there were people inside government who had concerns about the unfolding Phoenix processover the years, there was a fear to communicate those concerns.

The study team found that Public Services and Procurement Canadain particular, and the Government of Canada generally, "is not open to risk."

The report notes that Phoenix was a high-risk initiative and "the impacts of failure could be extremely significant."It notes the lessons have not yet been learned, but it will be critical for the government to apply the lessons in future transformations.

"Given that the Transformationof Pay Administration was managed in a cultural environment that did not reward those who spoke truth to power (that is to identify and communicate problems)and a tendency to believe those with good reputations, a strong oversight/challenge function was needed."