Had To Fire California Firm, Redo Most Of The Work
posted April 15, 2008
City officials said Tuesday they had to fire a California consulting that had been hired for a $3.8 million overhaul of the city software program and then redo most of the work.
Dan Johnson, chief of staff to Mayor Ron Littlefield, said the city "is aggressively pursuing actions that could lead to recovery of significant dollars" from Oracle Consulting Company.
The City Council approved hiring a Chattanooga firm - Hopkins and Associates - to redo the work.
Total spending is now put at another $2.8 million, bringing the total project cost to $6.6 million.
Councilman Jack Benson said the city is getting a bad reputation for hiring consultants that don't live up to their billing.
On Jan. 15, the City Council voted unanimously to sue the Segal Company, claiming the actuarial firm’s counsel to the fire and police pension board was flawed and the cause of increased contributions by the city.
Mr. Johnson said he is not happy with the additional costs, but he said he was told that some cities have paid up to $13 million to set up a similar program.
He said the Enterprise Resource Planning system will put all city departments on the same computer grid and bring governmental efficiencies in purchasing, inventorying, budgeting and other areas.
Employees will be able to go into the system and view data about their pay and benefits and will be able to do benefit enrollment online without having to attend enrollment meetings.
Completion of all parts of the system has been pushed back to April of next year, though some areas are to be ready by July.
Mr. Johnson said the $2.8 million will be paid out of next year's capital budget.
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