Irish software wins in Government's $78m upgrade

By PAUL BRISLEN

The Ministry of Social Development has chosen Irish software developer Curam Software to do stage one of a computer-system upgrade that will ultimately cost the Government more than $78 million.

The head of Work & Income, Ray Smith, said the choice was made despite several bids from New Zealand companies including high-flying Jade Software, which specialises in client management systems.

"We looked at a number of client management systems but only Curam has a suite of products designed specifically for this industry."

Jade founder Gil Simpson would not comment on the decision.

Smith said that although many of the requirements were easily matched by other client management systems, social services required software that could handle payment and tracking systems as well.

"The current system tells staff where people live and how many children they've got, whereas this system will include things like what are their work capabilities, what programmes have they been on, are they involved with rehabilitation, are they involved with the probation service, do they have a Housing New Zealand home and so on."

The new system would go a long way towards addressing some of the criticism levelled at the present system, called SWIFTT, which was less flexible than Smith said he would like.

Questions have been asked in Parliament about the present system's stability and the potential for cost blow-outs with any replacement.

Smith said the new system was modular and would be introduced in stages.