Reality Check: British Columbians deserve better than yet another costly B.C. Liberal I.T. failure

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server_mainframeIn the first two weeks of school, the new K-12 student information system, MyEducation BC, is letting teachers and students down.

The fumbled roll-out of MyEducation BC is only the latest in a long list of B.C. Liberal information system failures that have wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. People deserve better.

BCeSIS: Initiated by then-Minister of Education Christy Clark in 2003, BCeSIS was the $97 million failed system that MyEd BC is replacing.

MyEd BC: $95 million dollar system brought in to replace BCeSIS, leaving administrators and teachers with new headaches.

Integrated Case Management: The $182 million system meant to help deliver social services. The Representative for Children and Youth called it a “colossal failure” that is putting vulnerable children at risk.

Clinical Systems Transformation Project: The B.C. Liberals recently fired the primary contractor on this $842 million project and it is now unclear when it will be ready or how over budget it will be.

Panorama eHealth I.T. system: With $114 million spent to date, this project is already 420 per cent over budget and is not yet fully functional.

Electronic Health Records Initiative: A report by the Auditor General in 2010 found that this online service responsible for providing medical information to British Columbians was poorly planned and grossly over budget by almost $100 million.

Maximus health care I.T. management: This contract was renewed in 2013 at a 40% increased cost, $264 million for an extra five years, even though the bidding had no competitors and the Auditor General had reported serious problems with service levels and privacy protection.

B.C. Hydro: In 2009, Hydro embarked on a 5-year, $400 million plan to upgrade its I.T. systems, saying it would save money. Six years later they’re $100 million over budget, the job is only half done and operating costs are up.

JUSTIN System: An integrated criminal case management database responsible for storing some of the most sensitive information in government – police investigations, court documents and victims or witnesses of crime – was found by the auditor general to be inadequately protected from external or internal security breaches. The system wasn’t even able to determine if a breach occurred, meaning if a breach had already happened, we wouldn’t know.