Finance had ‘serious concerns’ about cost of FISP

THE Department of Finance warned just last month that the FISP system could end up costing even more than PPARS.

In a letter to the Department of Health, it warned the bill for consultants alone on the project would reach over €30 million by the end of this year.

"Despite this level of expenditure, no element of the system has yet been rolled out," added the letter, which was issued on September 13 following a meeting between the two departments and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Both FISP and PPARS are systems based on the same software. But while PPARS is a payroll and personnel system, FISP standing for Financial Information Systems Project is a financial management system used to oversee the bulk buying of produce for the health service and also to monitor payments.

Deloitte & Touche are consultants on both projects.

In its letter, Finance said it agreed with the "critical importance of a central financial management system" for the health service, but said it had "very serious concerns about the approach being adopted" to its development.

"This project shares the PPARS approach to development which is overly-dependent on very expensive external consultants," the letter said. "Unsupportable travel and subsistence expenditures" had ensued, the department added.

The extent of external assistance was "a strong indicator" of the "light approach to project governance and project management by health sector staff." There were suggestions that staff "had at least partially abdicated their necessary management role in this area."

There was "a seeming lack of understanding that this system (and PPARS) must fit into a HSE architecture for technology and information delivery."

Overall, the estimated final cost of the project was "even more extreme" than PPARS, the letter added, "despite the fact that the accounting requirement should be more consistent and therefore simpler."

Finance concluded by saying it was aware a senior HSE team was beginning a review of PPARS.

"We feel very strongly that the FISP project, its goals and the development approach being adopted should also be reviewed by this team as both projects share the same technology and the same approach to development," it said.

"In the meantime, we feel that the HSE should also take immediate action to put a brake on ongoing expenditures, both for backfilled staff and for external consultants."

The letter was written by Jim Duffy, an assistant secretary at Finance, to the secretary general of the Department of Health, Michael Scanlan. A copy of the letter was forwarded to HSE chief executive, Professor Brendan Drumm.

The HSE yesterday announced it was putting both FISP and PPARS on hold pending further evaluation.