News

On November 20, 2013, HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira sent a letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser regarding the November 14 editorial "CGI has performed well for tax office and health care website." The letter was run in the November 24 edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The text of the letter appears below.
 
Dear Editor:

CGI’s vice president and Hawaii client executive recently claimed her company performed well for the state Department of Taxation. Unfortunately, for Hawaii’s taxpayers, such claims are grossly misleading.

What started out in 1999 as a $51 million, five-year effort to upgrade the department’s aging computer system turned into an $87.5 million payout to a company that has created a culture of discord. Taking 14 years to do the job, with major system implementations and enhancements, CGI caused delay in contract deliverables and demonstrated poor long-term planning. Favored for the contracts, CGI has gotten away with not completing contract requirements and not being held accountable for defects and system integration problems. More significantly, serious management conflicts and increased workload have led to increased tension between CGI’s employees and department staff.

With its history of past failures and cost overruns, CGI is not a company with whom the state should be doing business and is an example of what can occur when public sector work is contracted out to private companies without the appropriate safeguards and meaningful accountability.

Randy Perreira
Executive Director
HGEA/AFSCME Local 152