What has already been described to States members as an unredacted expose of how the States of Guernsey’s flagship transformation strategy and public sector reform process fell apart, is also expected to indicate that senior heads will roll over the debacle.
Some political sources said over the weekend that the waste of money could well exceed the headline £18m. allocated and that the report by States chief executive Boley Smillie could also focus on how the finances for the project – and forecast notional savings – were handled.
This is based on earlier disclosures that government’s own internal audit resources have been focused on the totality of the programme, how expenditure was signed off, by whom, on what basis, and how that was reported.
Policy & Resources’ treasury lead Gavin St Pier has already described the failure as an ‘unconscionable waste of public money’ and the report is expected to lay out in full detail how that happened and who was responsible.
In particular, it will examine how senior civil servants authorised expenditure to the States’ IT partners Agilisys with apparently nothing to show for it, or without P&R being aware the project was essentially failing as the money was handed over.
Deputy Marc Laine, P&R’s IT adviser, who has a significant track record in the sector, has also warned that he expects the report to make ‘painful reading’ and will lay bare the government’s lack of ability to deliver.
‘These are not isolated incidents. They are a pattern, and patterns tell stories,’ he said.
States members do not believe his analysis, over two pages in this newspaper at the start of the month, came as a surprise to P&R or the chief executive, although Deputy Laine has not been directly involved in the report or its drafting.
While he is also awaiting its publication, his reference at the time to ‘those directly involved’ is seen as a clear reference to the senior civil servants running it.
The speculation therefore is that the whole of the States senior leadership team comes under the spotlight about who was overseeing successful outcomes on the project, and will now face significant reform over the next few months.
Although not appointed until the beginning of last year, how Mr Smillie as chief executive handles the fallout from government’s worst financial mismanagement scandal over the coming weeks is also under the microscope.
The States’ MyGov programme was a central part of the island’s long-running digital transformation strategy and was linked to wider public sector reform and, later, the Agilisys partnership.
Its was intended to create a single online portal for all government services, enable a one-stop digital experience for areas like tax, licences, benefits, etc. and to introduce a central customer account system. It was also supposed to save money and improve efficiency by digitising services by becoming Guernsey’s equivalent of a modern Gov.uk-style platform. Instead, it has achieved nothing at a cost of at least £18m.