The Queensland Health Payroll System Commission of Inquiry Report by Richard Chesterman QC is a rare analysis of government decision making and insight into project management and lessons learned.

The Commission was established to consider the adequacy and integrity of the procurement, contract management, project management, governance and implementation process for the Queensland Health Payroll System.

The 264 page report concludes that:

“This Project serves as an example of serious failure, both because of the sharp increase in the price paid and the waste of public sector resources dedicated to achieving the system Go Live, some two and a half years later than contracted for. That cost continued afterwards, and continues in the need for its stabilisation and maintenance.

Added to this was the distress and inconvenience caused to QH staff, many of whom could not afford the financial consequences of a dysfunctional payroll system.

I have identified two principal causes of the inadequacies which led to the increase in contract price, the serious shortcomings in contract and project management, and in the State’s decision to settle with IBM.

Those causes were: unwarranted urgency and a lack of diligence on the part of State officials. That lack of diligence manifested itself in the poor decisions which those officials made in scoping the Interim Solution; in their governance of the Project; and in failing to hold IBM to account to deliver a functional payroll system.”

The report contains interesting insights into contract negotiation, probity assessments and dispute resolution.