Qld blacklists IBM over payroll bungle

The Queensland government says it won't enter into any more contracts with IBM until it deals with employees blamed for the health payroll bungle.

The Queensland government has blacklisted IBM from any future state contracts after a scathing report into the IT giant's part in the health payroll bungle.

Premier Campbell Newman says if IBM wants to work with Queensland again, it has to deal with past misconduct and prevent future misconduct.

IBM rolled out a flawed payroll system for Queensland Health in 2010, resulting in thousands of pay errors.

What began as a $6.19 million project is ultimately expected to cost taxpayers $1.2 billion.

The government-commissioned inquiry into the debacle found IBM employees involved with the project lacked integrity.

Commissioner Richard Chesterman's report says IBM solicited and received information during the tender process that gave it a distinct advantage over its competitors.

IBM had received a "dry run" and proposal rehearsal from the man charged with managing the tender process, former IBM employee Terry Burns.

"IBM improperly searched CorpTech (the government's IT arm) information systems ... for information regarding the vendor proposals and the evaluation of those proposals," the report said.

Mr Chesterman also said IBM had offered an unrealistically low price, knowing costs would play a big part in the government's decision.

Mr Newman said the former Labor government were also to blame for the disaster but he said it appears IBM took the state for a ride.

"I would expect IBM to deal with employees who have been adversely named in the commission of inquiry report no matter where they are located in the IBM world," he said.

IBM has refused to comment apart from providing a statement earlier on Wednesday saying it rejected most of the inquiry's key findings.

The Public Service Commission will also look at whether disciplinary action can be taken against current public servants who were adversely named in the report.

This includes former under-treasurer Gerard Bradley, who now heads the Queensland Treasury Corporation.

Mr Bradley was the man who signed off on the deal with IBM, which left the state with a health payroll system that has never worked properly and continues to be costly to operate.


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Source: AAP


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