Manitoba Public Insurance looks for help to keep technology modernization project on budget
CBC
Manitoba Public Insurance is looking to hire an outside consultant to help keep a major project to modernize its technology on budget and on time.
That's according to a request for proposals tabled by the Opposition NDP during question period in the Manitoba legislature on Monday.
Project Nova, which is aiming to help move more of the public insurer's services online, has already faced cost overruns and delays, with a budget that rose from less than $107 million to nearly $290 million over a few years.
The insurer sent out the request for proposals about a month ago, as it searches for expert advice and coaching that will allow it to deliver the full scope of Project Nova without taking longer or spending more than what's budgeted.
In January, the insurer's rate application to the Public Utilities Board, an arm's-length from government entity, detailed significant increases in the Crown corporation's budget to pay for the project.
Project Nova began in 2020 with a budget of $106.8 million — a number that increased to $128.5 million the next year.
The timeline for completing Project Nova was later extended from three to five years, and the budget is now in a range of $257 million to $289.9 million, the rate application said.
WATCH | Crown corporation issues request for proposals to keep project on track:
The Public Utilities Board said at the time it ordered the insurer to provide reports related to the project so it could monitor expenses.
Matt Wiebe, the NDP's critic for Manitoba Public Insurance, said there have been problems with the project from the beginning.
"We have a lot of concerns about how the project has been rolled out, but ultimately it's about trust and it's about the fact that this government has mishandled this every step along the way," said Wiebe, the MLA for Concordia.
It's still unclear exactly how much hiring an external consultant would cost. But Kelvin Goertzen, the minister responsible for Manitoba Public Insurance, said the Crown corporation isn't getting any more money than what's currently budgeted to finish Project Nova.
Goertzen said the project has already gone over budget in part because of underestimates the insurer made internally.
"The initial scoping was obviously too low. [There] probably were a lot of folks who said that to begin with," he said.
Ontario is running out of time to beef up rules that would crack down on negligent and misbehaving municipal politicians ahead of the next civic election, some experts and opposition critics warn.
Six London teens are each facing multiple charges following a break-and-enter spree at homes in the city's southwest end early Sunday, police said.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is putting the finishing touches on completing the Team Gushue Highway, but it means drivers might have to change their routes until later this summer.
Passage of the Nova Scotia government's budget bill stalled late Tuesday night when a group of singing protesters shut down the final vote to approve the budget.
Health Minister John Dornan said Woodstock-based eVisitNB will continue to provide virtual health-care services to New Brunswickers for another 90 days after March 31.
The head of Canada's largest airline has been summoned to Ottawa to explain why he spoke only in English when he offered his condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the collision between a plane and a fire truck at a New York City airport on Sunday.
Manitoba is bucking a national trend by promising to slash its deficit, while boosting health care spending by nearly $1 billion and delivering modest affordability measures, including a PST cut that will save you money next time you buy a soda and bag of chips.
Premier Scott Moe has said there are no "cancellations or delays" to school projects as a result of the provincial budget introduced last week.
An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in a deadly daytime shooting on a highway south of Edmonton.
More than a month after the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, stories of bravery during the tragedy are being shared.
Just over six months after the University of Prince Edward Island's medical program began, the dean of the faculty says things are “going wonderfully.”
One person has been found dead after a large fire gutted a home in Mississauga on Monday night, officials say.
The Northwest Territories government says it has found elevated levels of lead in drinking water at the Chief Jimmy Bruneau school in Behchokǫ̀.