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City Personnel System Reportedly $300 Million Over Budget

By Tom Liddy | September 24, 2011 12:07pm
The city's automated personnel system, Nycaps, is reportedly $300 million over budget.
The city's automated personnel system, Nycaps, is reportedly $300 million over budget.
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

MANHATTAN — A project to modernize the city's personnel system clocked in at nearly $300 million over budget, according to a published report.

The New York City Automated Personnel System, or Nycaps, which allows administration officials to view payroll and benefit information and facilitates the transfer of employees between agencies, was supposed to cost $66 million when it was originally undertaken in 2002, the New York Times said.

But nine years later, the project still isn't finished — many retirees and current employees still don't have access — and it has amassed a bill of $363 million, the report said.

The news comes on the heels of a scandal surrounding another computerized system, CityTime, the cost of which ballooned to $700 million from initial estimates of $63 million. 

In that case, executives at contractor SAIC were hit with fraud and money laundering charges and the city's Office of Payroll Administration head, Joel Bondy, resigned.

No allegation of wrongdoing has been made in the Nycaps case, the Times said.

According to the report, the city delegated much of the control of the project to consulting firm Accenture, whose fees jumped from $8 million in 2004 to $53 million in 2007, according to the paper.

Accenture blamed the costs on "increases in scope directed by the city,” company spokesman Jim McAvoy told The Times. “The number of employees included in the system greatly increased and additional functions were added, such as training administration and performance management.”

The city brushed off a comparison of Nycaps and CityTime and said that both systems are now "fully functional," spokeswoman Julie Wood told the paper.

The mayor's office did not immediately respond to email requests for comment from DNAinfo.com.