The company was named several times in the critical investigation report from States chief executive Boley Smillie into the programme’s failure, including its being responsible for monitoring expenditure, until a significant overspend was uncovered part-way through.
It said yesterday that it did not accept all the findings or characterisations within the report.
‘What today’s report makes clear, and what previous Scrutiny reports have also highlighted, is a consistent pattern of criticism of the States of Guernsey’s own governance, leadership, capability, oversight, and control,’ said a spokesman.
‘Our team in Guernsey worked with professionalism and commitment throughout, and we remain proud of their contribution.’
The company said it would also caution against conflating the issues in the report with the termination of its contract last year.
‘The report makes clear that the remit of the MyGov programme was repeatedly shifted by the States of Guernsey, with its scope changed multiple times, projects renamed, services redefined and expectations reduced, rather than the underlying problems being addressed,’ the spokesman added.
‘It also identifies weak internal controls, poor leadership, failures of challenge and intervention, and a lack of clarity over accountability, and concludes that the programme was characterised by poor leadership and an overestimation of the States of Guernsey’s ability to recover delivery and realise benefits.’
Agilisys said that MyGov was a complex programme delivered in partnership with the States, and the key decisions ultimately rested with the States as the contracting authority.
Issues arose from the programme’s design and poor governance, not delivery alone, he added.
The report from States chief executive Boley Smillie makes several references to Agilisys, saying that the States relied too heavily on Agilisys and its reporting was not consistently clear or complete, and often masked underlying issues.
It said that the relationship between the company and internal teams in the public sector was not effectively managed, and concerns about capability and ways of working were not resolved.
There were also concerns about Agilisys people holding a number of seats on the programme board, which Mr Smillie said created a conflict, allowing the company to effectively mark their own performance and shape how it was reported.
The company ‘exercised a degree of control that should not have been ceded to a third party and senior leadership did not exert sufficient grip in commercial matters’, he said.
The Agilisys spokesman said: ‘We also note that it is standard practice for key suppliers to be part of programme governance subject to the leadership role of the States of Guernsey.’
Mr Smillie added in his report that the cancellation of the Agilsys contract was ‘the right decision’ and was reinforced by the findings of the review.
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