The Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes today issued a critical report on the State Controller’s Office (SCO) $373 million MyCalPays project that was halted in February after a troubled history that included a pilot that was riddled with errors, ending with the termination of vendor SAP’s $90 million contract.
In advance of a hearing scheduled for August 15 by Senator Richard Roth, chairman of Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee 4, the report, “Crash Course: Failure to heed early warnings, troubles of the past contributed to payroll system collapse” said the project suffered from leadership turnover and failing to resolve core issues. The 55-page report also said that the SCO has not been candid with the legislature about the challenges faced by the project.
"The expensive misadventure has once again left many wondering why – in a state that has given the world Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter – California consistently struggles to modernize its own public computer systems," the report states.
After reviewing hundreds of pages of documents and interviewing key stakeholders, the Senate Oversight Office found that state’s payroll complexity, leadership changes, staff vacancies, data conversion issues and resistance to change has plagued the project from the beginning.
In February, the SCO cancelled the contract with SAP after test runs of approximately 1,300 paychecks contained about 100 types of errors, according to news reports. The state has paid $50 million to SAP, and would use "all means available" to recoup those funds, SCO spokesman Jacob Roper told Techwire at the time.
“Unfortunately, the report issued today demonstrates a misunderstanding or oversimplifies some of the key issues involved in MyCalPays,” said Roper today in an email. “We look forward to correcting those errors in the coming days. The Controller’s office is today issuing an internal, preliminary report on the project’s history: what went wrong, what worked, and what lessons can be learned. The Legislature has always been a critical and close partner to this project, and we are committed to working with the Legislature to address any and all issues.”
Senator Roth’s Office today confirmed a hearing is scheduled for Thursday, in Room 112 of the State Capitol, after the Senate floor session concludes.
During budget hearings last May, Senator Roth announced his subcommittee would look into MyCalPays, also known as the 21st Century Project, after the approval of 40 positions and $14.6 million to reconcile errors made with 1300 employees during the pilot. A funding proposal to pursue legal proceedings against SAP was rejected, with the savings directed toward an assessment to start right away.
