Housing NZ says project costs claim inflated

Housing New Zealand says it has spent $9.6 million, excluding GST, on preparatory work for its Enterprise Transformation Programme project.

A business case for the project will be submitted to government ministers this month.

The sum included $6.3m paid over two years to consultants Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Independent Quality Assurance New Zealand (Iqanz).

A whistleblower, two former managers and software company TechnologyOne have claimed Housing New Zealand plans to buy unneeded software and has created a potential conflict of interest for its strategic adviser Deloitte by not ruling it out from picking up work installing software for the project.

Housing New Zealand has declined to comment on the second claim, citing commercial confidentiality. Spokesman Nick Maling said a claim from one of the former managers that about $20m had already been spent on the ETP project was not correct. The sum would be $10.7m, with GST included.

Iqanz and KPMG had confirmed the methodology behind a Housing New Zealand estimate that the ETP project could save the Crown-owned company up to $70m a year, he said.

Opposition housing spokeswoman Moana Mackey said she hoped to quiz the Government on the project next week.

- © Fairfax NZ News