SAAQclic fiasco: Several red flags raised before the contract was signed
Posted June 11, 2025 4:50 pm.
Last Updated June 11, 2025 4:51 pm.
Several “red flags” were raised at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) before signing the contract that would bind it to LGS-SAP.
But the risk was manageable, a former vice-president of finance, Yves Frenette, argued Wednesday before the Gallant Commission investigating the SAAQclic fiasco.
“There are red flags raised, but we are in an innovative situation,” he declared.
The former senior civil servant struggled to explain why he had not presented a detailed, written risk analysis to the previous president and CEO, Nathalie Tremblay.
She recommended to the board of directors that the contract be awarded to LGS-SAP, “without nuance,” the commission’s lawyer, Marie-Claude Sarrazin, pointed out Wednesday.
Whatever could have been done, “the decision was crystallized,” Frenette repeated several times, testifying before the commission for a second consecutive day.
“The train moves forward, the counterbalance becomes secondary,” he stated.
To win the contract, the LGS-SAP alliance notably reduced its initial proposal by 730,000 hours.
Internal committees at the SAAQ informed Frenette that the alliance planned to deliver phase two, which directly affected services for citizens, without simulations.
They also pointed out that the alliance was planning a seven per cent contingency, “while it is 15 to 20 per cent in the industry in general.”
The alliance also proposed that any “additional” work be done at an hourly rate of $256, which was “very high” compared to the hourly rate planned for the project.
For the same work, a competitor offered an hourly rate of $151.
It’s worth remembering that the SAAQ’s failed digital transformation is expected to cost at least $1.1 billion, more than double the initial budget, according to the Auditor General of Quebec.
Echoing Frenette’s words, Commissioner Denis Gallant declared Wednesday that “Formula 1” had “hit a wall.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
