SAAQclic: Former executive annoyed by auditor general’s findings

A former SAP executive said he was “annoyed” by the Quebec Auditor General’s (VGQ) conclusions regarding the advantage the German software company allegedly had prior to the call for tenders for the digital transformation of the Quebec auto insurance board (Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec – SAAQ).

Guy Cossette, former director of business development at SAP, testified on Friday before the Gallant Commission, which is investigating the SAAQ’s technological modernization.

In 2014, Cossette participated in efforts to promote the idea of an integrated management software package (ERP) to the Crown corporation, which would later be used to develop the SAAQclic platform. The mandate also aimed to assess the SAAQ’s needs and the costs and benefits associated with implementing an ERP.

As part of these efforts, SAP organized workshops for dozens of SAAQ employees to demonstrate the ERP model. Auditors were present to ensure “that we would not ask questions that would give us an advantage over others,” said Cossette.

“I was a little annoyed when the Auditor General issued her report and claimed that there might be a conflict of interest for SAP. I didn’t understand where the conflict of interest was,” he told commissioner Denis Gallant.

According to last February’s report by former Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc, “only one ERP publisher was significantly involved” in the evaluation work.

Without mentioning a conflict of interest, Leclerc told the media last winter that “the publisher, who was heavily involved in establishing the requirements (…) had an advantage when it came to preparing the call for tenders, especially since the deadline for completing the call for tenders was quite short.”

“The publisher was the winner, and he had been involved in establishing the requirements, which gave him a certain advantage,” she said.

The firm was consulted even though it had another contractual relationship with the SAAQ at the time for a smaller mandate.

Cossette believes that presenting the product purchased by the Crown corporation to employees is one of the “privileges” of a company.

According to him, if it hadn’t been SAP, other competitors would have done this “pre-sales work.”

The firm wanted to make its mark, as it had missed out on major public sector contracts in the past, he recalled.

In 2017, SAP won the $458 million framework contract with LGS-IBM, which was responsible for integration services.

It should be noted that the total budget for the SAAQ’s IT modernization project could amount to at least $1.1 billion, or about double the initial amount, according to VGQ calculations.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews