PUBLICATION:
Toronto Star
DATE:
2004.08.21
SECTION:
News
PAGE: A06
BYLINE:
Tonda MacCharles
DATELINE:
OTTAWA
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Delays
hit firearms registry redesign
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A
stream of reviews and government-ordered changes has delayed the final redesign
of the federal gun registry.
Chief
Firearms Commissioner Bill Baker acknowledged in an interview that a 15-year
contract to redesign and replace the old Canadian Firearms Registration computer
system still has not delivered a new system, two years after it was awarded.
"That's
a contract under development. That's not in place yet. We're still operating on
the existing Canadian Firearms Registration System," said Baker.
Instead,
EDS, the company that designed the original ineffective computer database -
criticized by the auditor-general as expensive and out-of-date - is still on the
payroll.
Baker
said in February that EDS had been paid $165 million over a seven-year period to
develop and manage the system. That contract was increased on May 10 to $182.5
million and extended for up to 16 months, said Thomas Vares, a spokesperson for
the Canadian Firearms Centre.
"The
money that EDS gets is for the continued support for the information system that
runs the program right now. It's an annual support payment charged to keep that
machine running," said Baker.
The
replacement contract was awarded in July, 2002, to Team Centra, a joint venture
between CGI Group and BDP Business Data Services, to design and operate a new
computer database and, pending government approval, to take over delivery of the
service to the public.
It
was originally said to be worth $300 million - $34 million to design the new
system, and $266 million to operate it over 15 years - and by July, 2003, had
ballooned to $371.56 million, according to documents obtained last year by
Conservative gun control critic Garry Breitkreuz.
Federal
officials dispute those numbers but were unable to provide an exact figure, or
say whether Ottawa has paid out penalties for the delays.
"The
problem that we have always been presented with in implementing the new system
is trying to get all the business rules frozen," said Baker.
"And
the latest review that was undertaken by the government (last spring) ... we
have to work our way through that."
That
means all details of regulations governing licensing and registration still need
to be finalized before Team Centra can nail down the "commercial
off-the-shelf" replacement system it was supposed to supply.
"Whatever
technical requirements remain, we know they are part of an overall budget that
is going down in cost annually," said Alex Swann, a spokesperson for Public
Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
The
firearms program has undergone several reviews since the original contract was
let, including the 2002 auditor-general's report, a KPMG audit, a consultant's
review by Raymond Hession, the 2003 action plan tabled by then-justice minister
Martin Cauchon and, another ministerial review last spring.
After
the last review, Ottawa said it would again revise some regulations on firearm
registration, transfer and transport, and promised more "streamlining"
of licence renewals.
Auditor-General
Sheila Fraser said that the original EDS-designed system was too complex and
hard to adjust as government policy decisions changed.
The overall gun control program - licensing owners and registering guns - was originally projected to have a net cost of $2 million, but after 10 years in the works, will hit the $1-billion mark this year. Said Conservative critic Breitkreuz of the delays: "It's a bureaucrat's dream."
NEWS
RELEASE - February 17, 2004
COST
TO PRIVATIZE GUN REGISTRY BALLOONS FROM $290 MILLION TO $371 MILLION
“Not once in 9 years of tracking gun registry costs have I ever seen a ‘downward revision’.”
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns112.htm