Phil Heatley MP
National Party Housing Spokesman

6 March 2008

Cost of non-existent computer doubles

National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley has discovered that the cost of a non-existent computer system for builders' registration appears to have doubled.

“I issued a statement in November pointing out that taxpayers had spent $653,000 on a computer system that never eventuated. It now turns out a further $645,000 was spent on consultants, a figure that was not initially volunteered by the Department of Building and Housing.

"The computerised registration system was a feature of Labour's cumbersome building legislation. It was to be worth a total of $1.2 million and be operational by November 1. The idea has been dumped.

"Two thirds of the way through the project, Building and Housing decided there were too many problems with it. And the plug was pulled, with levy-paying builders being left more than $1.2 million out of pocket."

The system was supposed to record:

* Name, date of birth & contact details.
* Registration number.
* Name of company.
* Status and history of person's licence.
* Whether licence was ever suspended.

"In effect, the money spent on this abandoned project came from the pockets of builders, who've faced huge levy increases because of new building laws.

"Labour has taxed builders heavily and then squandered the money it has collected.

"The end result of all this is that people who have built new homes or businesses are being forced to pay more for the same job, while the bureaucracy spends the cash but fails to provide anything in return.”

Ends

Attached: PQs – 2 pages.

PQ # 00709 (2008) Published - Building and Construction - Normal Reply

Question: How much was spent on consultants, broken down by amount paid, consultancy firm and country concerning the scoping, development, design, trialing, implementation and discontinuation of the licensed building practitioner system?

Portfolio: Building and Construction
Minister: Hon Shane Jones
Date Lodged:13/02/2008

Answer Text: I am advised by the Department of Building and Housing that the following table summarises the consultant and contractor costs associated with the scoping, development, design, trialling, implementation and discontinuation of an IT system for licensed building practitioners.

Date Received: 21/02/2008

Table to go with Parliamentary Question 709

Amount Paid
GST exclusive / Consultants and contractors / Country services were provided in / Type of services provided
$193,380 / XACTA Group / New Zealand / Supply of contract staff to assist with the documentation of the business processes for the operation of the scheme
$65,183 / Simpson Grierson / New Zealand / Legal Services to establish the contract with Unisys
$23,400 / Karen Grandy / New Zealand / Business Analyst to assist with work on the Business processes
$52,650 / Endoxa Consulting / New Zealand / Project Management
$127,460 / AMR Consulting / New Zealand / Project Management and supply of contract staff to assist with creation of business use cases
$89,700 / Autonomic / New Zealand / Supply of contract staff to assist with documentation of processes and business use cases
$9,975 / Azimuth Consulting Limited / New Zealand / Project Management
$38,392 / Hewlett Packard / New Zealand / IT Specialist Advisor to evaluate the Unisys revised proposal
$54,556 / Kensington Swan / New Zealand / Legal Services on options to end the contract with Unisys
$646,988.47 / Total Cost / /

PQ # - 00710 (2008) Published - Building and Construction - Normal Reply

Question: What were the amounts and dates of payments made to various suppliers concerning the scoping, development, design, trialing, implementation and discontinuation of the licensed building practitioner system?

Portfolio: Building and Construction
Minister: Hon Shane Jones
Date Lodged:13/02/2008

Answer Text: I am advised by the Department of Building and Housing that the following table summarises the amounts and dates of payments relating to the supplier selected to develop IT systems for the licensed building practitioner system scheme.

Date Received: 21/02/2008

Table to go with Parliamentary Question 710

Amount Paid
GST exclusive / Date of Payment / Supplier
$155,848.19 / 29/12/2006 / Unisys New Zealand
$80,000.10 / 22/02/2007 / Unisys New Zealand
$17,500.02 / 7/05/2007 / Unisys New Zealand
$400,000.00 / 28/11/2007 / Unisys New Zealand
$653,348.31 / Total Cost /

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