Chris Maio started Dec. 2 as chief of information systems in the State Controller Office’s Personnel and Payroll Services Division. In his duties, he will serve as director and “oversee the successful deployment of a statewide payroll system and strategies” the controller’s office said.
Maio, who left his position as CIO of the California Secretary of State’s Office, arrives as the controller’s office continues an assessment of the suspended MyCalPays payroll system that’s currently in litigation between the state and system integrator SAP.
On Nov. 13, the Grant Thornton consultancy issued its final report on the projected cost of completing the MyCalPays system and doing a full rollout. The final price tag is estimated between $107 million to $200 million. Grant Thornton is expected to issue recommendations for a path forward at a later date.
Maio joined the Secretary of State’s Office in 2006 and had served as the help desk supervisor and infrastructure section manager before being appointed to division chief in 2009. Maio succeeded Mary Winkley as the CIO in 2012. Before joining the SOS, Chris started his career in licensing and enforcement at the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). He went on to work as a senior technical specialist and in management within DCA’s Office of Information Services.
At the State Controller’s Office, Maio is replacing Tony Davidson as chief of information systems in the Personnel and Payroll Services Division. Davidson is retiring.
The state intends to analyze different options and alternatives for the payroll system modernization in the wake of the MyCalPays failure. Some have speculated the payroll system, if and when it’s restarted, could be a candidate to be put through the Department of Technology’s new Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL).
The $373 million MyCalPays project goes back more than a decade, when in 2004 the California Department of Finance concluded that the state’s existing human resources and payroll system was outdated. The State Controller’s Office determined that the best course of action was to procure an off-the-shelf software solution and hire a system integrator. The state eventually awarded a contract to SAP in 2010.
But the data conversion away from the legacy system was troubled from the start, and the pilot within the State Controller’s Office – representing a very small slice of the total state workforce — revealed a series of "troubling" payroll errors. The state terminated SAP’s $90 million contract in 2013.
A report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office issued in March 2014 called for an assessment of the failed system, despite concerns that it could hurt the state’s chances in a lawsuit then-Controller John Chiang filed against SAP in 2013. The LAO said the state could win anywhere from $150 million if a court rules in California’s favor or lose $50 million if the lawsuit is not successful. A court trial is scheduled in 2016.
