The National Transport Authority (NTA) has disputed a report suggesting it faces a \u20ac41 million cost overrun on its \u201cnext-generation\u201d contactless ticketing system, which will allow passengers to tap their bank cards on buses, trains and the Luas.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the authority said the suggestion made in a D\u00e1il Public Accounts Committee<\/a> (PAC) report is \u201cincorrect and without foundation\u201d. He said the calculations seem to be based on a \u201cmisinterpretation\u201d of figures the Department of Transport shared with the PAC.<\/p>\n The new ticketing system is, in fact, \u201cbeing delivered by the NTA within budget and is also on schedule\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n The PAC report found that a number of key IT projects being undertaken by Government departments and State agencies were projected to run over budgets by more than \u20ac61 million. Among these was the NTA\u2019s ticketing system, which the PAC said could now cost up to \u20ac269 million to deliver, amounting to an overrun of about \u20ac41 million.<\/p>\n The PAC is understood to be seeking clarification following the NTA\u2019s objection to the calculations.<\/p>\n Earlier Sinn F\u00e9in TD John Brady, chair of the PAC, said the cost overrun on this project, as set out in the committee\u2019s report, was \u201cparticularly alarming\u201d.<\/p>\n The report also revealed that a \u20ac3.6 million case management system project for the Garda ombudsman<\/a>\u2019s office was terminated following contractual issues.<\/p>\n It said the Department of Children<\/a>\u2019s affordable childcare scheme ICT project exceeded its original estimate by 49 per cent to reach a final cost of \u20ac10.6 million.<\/p>\n A Forensic Science Ireland<\/a> project for the management of DNA samples that had an initial costing of \u20ac760,027 cost \u20ac2.7 million by the time it was completed last year, the committee was told by the Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original business case greatly underestimated the complexity of the project and resources required to deliver on requirements,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n The project team reported regularly during the three years when the project was being worked on, and the additional costs were \u201cconsidered and approved,\u201d the committee was told.<\/p>\n The report says a number of completed IT projects collectively overshot their budgets by about \u20ac11.5 million.<\/p>\n However, the report said overall spending was roughly in line with initial projections as underspending on some projects has offset overruns on others.<\/p>\n