Auckland Council's IT project reassessed

Chief operating officer Dean Kimpton.

An Auckland Council IT project originally budgeted to cost $71 million should be delivered for the new cost of $172 million, says a senior council executive.

"I'm not going to go through another media expose on NewCore in 18 months' time," chief operating officer Dean Kimpton told the council's audit and risk committee on Tuesday.

Last month, the Herald revealed the soaring cost of the NewCore IT project, which is key to delivering better services and promised savings to the Super City model.

Mr Kimpton said the NewCore system would simplify issues that upset Aucklanders, such as not being able to book learn-to-swim programmes online.

He outlined steps the council was taking to ensure the revised cost and deadlines were met.

These include a new governance, leadership and management structure and escalating matters to the executive leadership team at the first sign of trouble.

All contractors on the project, he said, would get paid only for delivering outcomes, adding the consequences for non-delivery on time were "very, very clear".

Asked by councillor Cameron Brewer if the project would be delivered on time and on budget, Mr Kimpton said the important thing was to deliver on the new budget.

The IT project, which was supposed to be completed by June 2016, now has two key dates for implementation - June 2016 and June 2017.

While the costs of NewCore have increased by $100 million, these costs will come out of the $454 million budget for IT in a new 10-year budget.