If Quebec were to keep up the pace observed since May 2021, it will take another 8 long years to complete the implementation of the RENIR emergency telecommunications system, a project that was launched 20 years ago.
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After a project stoppage of nearly four years due to “problems with the network”, the implementation of the National Integrated Radiocommunication Network (RENIR) at the Sûreté du Québec resumed in May 2021.
And according to the latest status report published by the government in August, barely 25 units were delivered over the 469-day period following this relaunch.
Functionality anomalies were detected in February 2022 for a range of terminals acquired in the fall of 2021.
“The vendor was forced to produce a patch. This work required seven months of work, ”says the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital to explain the poor pace.
But more worryingly, the government’s dashboard indicates that no less than 161 units remain to be migrated to the new system.
At the rate things have been going for a year and a half, we can establish that it would take 3000 days for the commissioning of the remaining units, or 8 long years.
However, the first public investments in RENIR were made under the PQ government of Bernard Landry in 2002.
” Pathetic “
According to the schedule confirmed by the ministry, the project to migrate the police service to the RENIR must end on March 31, 2025. An assertion that the president of the Union of Public and Parapublic Service of Quebec (SFPQ) finds hard to believe.
“It’s simply pathetic,” laments Christian Daigle, adding that any private company managing a project like this “would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.”
The union believes that the RENIR disaster is another symptom of the government’s problems in IT management. The newspaper revealed in particular last February that Quebec was using external consulting services at $1,000/hour on the project.
“This is another problem that comes from the lack of internal expertise and that always increases dependence on the private sector. […] We relied on Motorola to find out what we needed and since then we’ve been buying from them, always giving money back,” says Mr. Daigle, insisting on the fact that the CAQ had no does better than its predecessors.
endless chasm
Beyond the deadlines, the RENIR is also a pitfall of public money. Initially expected to cost around $150 million, the bill now exceeds one billion dollars.
Upgrades and additional investments are constantly needed.
According to a review of Log, Infrastructurestechnologies Québec, the branch of the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital responsible for the project, has awarded Motorola contracts totaling no less than $135 million for the acquisition of equipment and services since January 2021, all without bidding.
A FIASCO
Implementation progress
- As of May 10, 2021: 111 RENIR user units
- As of August 22, 2022: 136 RENIR user units
- 25 units deployed in 469 days, 161 remaining
More than $1 billion swallowed up
- Initial budget at launch in 2002: $143.8 million
- Actual total: At least $1.214B
$352M (Investments as of March 31, 2020)
+
$134.9 million (Additional investments in 2021-2022)
+
$543.8 million (Operating costs until 2019-2020)
+
$183.3M (Keep the old network active)
The big dates
- 2002
The Treasury Board authorizes the establishment of a new network which should be operational in 2006. - 2009
Third postponement, this time for 2013, with a budget more than doubled to $336.3 million. - 2013
The RENIR is in service, but the migration of emergency services is largely incomplete. - 2017
Interruption of the migration to the SQ due to major problems. The hiatus will last four years. - 2020
Auditor General’s devastating report on the project. - September 2022
At the rate of migration observed since May 2021, the operation would end in 2030, 28 years after the launch of the project.
Sources: Dashboard of information resources projects of the Government of Quebec, Report of the Auditor General and compilation of public contracts made by Le Journal