Publication of Agilisys contract review is held up for checking

Policy & Resources has asked for more time to consider a draft version of the final report.

Scrutiny president Yvonne Burford has ruled out publication in the next month.

‘The review has been sent to P&R and Agilisys for the normal procedure of factual accuracy checking,’ she said.

‘P&R has asked for an extension of the time in which to undertake this, which has now been agreed for both parties.

‘The Scrutiny Management Committee had hoped that the review would be published in May. However, it will now not be before June.’

The review was announced in July 2022, after the committee said that spending on IT was one of its biggest concerns in the States’ accounts for 2021.

Scrutiny will make recommendations, but other deputies will not get the chance to debate them.

‘It is not the intention of the SMC to submit the review to the States for debate,’ said Deputy Burford.

‘The SMC would only seek to do this if it felt, after a suitable period had elapsed, that the recommendations were not being sufficiently actioned, at which point the committee could consider seeking a resolution of the States in that regard.’

The review was set up to examine whether the States’ IT arrangements, including its contract with Agilisys, provide value for money for taxpayers.

A 10-year contract was signed between the States and the company in September 2019 after the States confirmed Agilisys as the preferred bidder for its future digital services programme a couple of months earlier.

The States called the deal a major milestone in the modernisation of its IT systems and to improve service delivery of public services through the adoption of digital technology to improve access and operational efficiency.