The Wisconsin Department of Administration postponed a $150 million IT project Friday, citing the state budget shortfall as their reason.
The project, called the Integrated Business Information System, is designed to replace the state's accounting systems and make them more efficient.
DOA Secretary Michael Morgan informed the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology of the decision in an April 11 letter. The committee is responsible for overseeing state IT projects.
The 2007-'09 biennial budget appropriated $19 million for the first phase of the project, of which $11 million has already been spent, according to the letter.
Morgan said in the letter to committee co-chairs state Sen. Pat Kreitlow, D-Chippewa Falls, and state Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, that the money spent has not been wasted.
The investment in these initial steps on the IBIS project will be just as valuable to the project when we re-start implementation,"" Morgan said.
Montgomery said a hearing would likely be held on the issue around mid-May, though no date has been set. He said the committee would perform an ""autopsy"" on the project to see where the implementation process broke down. Some sort of accountability is needed, Montgomery said, as ""taxpayers have faith the government is spending their hard-earned dollars wisely.""
He said it was unclear if the project was postponed due to problems or entirely on account of the state's fiscal situation.
State Budget Director Dave Schmiedicke said the cost of implementing the system was getting too great for the state agencies involved.
Schmiedicke said the postponement comes after the $200 million in cuts included in the original budget, with more cuts likely following in the upcoming repair bill to solve the deficit.
Morgan said the budget deficit contributed to the DOA decision.
""In the final assessment, it does not make good fiscal sense to continue to expend funds on IBIS as state agencies are making significant cuts in their operating budgets to respond to the budget deficit,"" Morgan said.
Kreitlow said in a statement he praised the decision to stop the project. He said large-scale computer projects were too often given approval without oversight in the past.
""One of the major flaws in Wisconsin's IT management policies in the past has been the reluctance or inability of the Department of Enterprise Technology to stop an IT project from moving forward when problems or concerns arise,"" Kreitlow said. ""Today's action shows a welcome change on that front.""
