Puerto Rico’s plan to add public-employee payroll to the government’s new enterprise resource planning (ERP) financial platform is on hold amid reported problems paying suppliers and some public servants since the system began operating in summer. At a public hearing of the Senate’s Federal Relations Committee, Alberto Cordero, president and founder of Ethree Solutions, a firm that has supported several phases of the ERP implementation, could not confirm readiness to include payroll in January as planned.
Cordero said the government is being careful and that implementation will happen later in the year after a meticulous testing plan; he said the Puerto Rico government has the final answer. The ERP went live in July for Finance and Purchasing transactions at more than 60 agencies with about 8,000 users, Cordero said. Deloitte Consulting is implementing the ERP.
Office of Management and Budget (OGP) director Orlando Rivera Berríos said no final decision has been made and that everything depends on Deloitte and possibly the Oversight Board (JSF); he said the January date may have to move. Committee chair Senator Carmelo Ríos said experts flagged failures, including information not migrating from the prior system, and questioned the more than $73 million paid to Deloitte, whose contract was awarded without a competitive bidding process.
The Deloitte contract with the Treasury Department expired in June, and Ríos said more than 20 issues remain to be corrected. The Oversight Board authorized a new contract of about $3.9 million additional with observations on November 2. Ríos said Deloitte and the General Services Administration (ASG) were summoned to a hearing on Thursday, November 12.