MPI hits pause on part of tech overhaul

Manitoba Public Insurance will temporarily disable one of the only working parts of its abandoned Project Nova technology system because it is causing so many problems for its customers.

In an email to staff members, MPI chief executive officer Satvir Jatana said the Crown corporation has decided to shut down the computer program, used for special risk-extension renewals and new policies for commercial customers, and return to the paper-based system it previously employed.

“We have identified a number of issues and our teams have been working hard to resolve these issues for our internal teams and our broker partners,” Jatana said in the email sent last month and obtained by the Free Press.

“Despite our significant investments in time and resources, especially in recent months, to move this work forward, we have not seen the improvements that we anticipated. It has become clear that attempting to fix the system while working in it is not in the best interests of our teams, our broker partners or our SRE customers.

“Given these ongoing issues, we have made the decision to revert back to the legacy system.”

Jatana said the switch will begin June 1.

Project Nova was first announced in 2020 at a cost of $107 million. It was expected to be completed in three years. Officials promised Nova would bring MPI into the 21st century in terms of digital technology, allowing its customers to renew or amend auto insurance and driver’s licences online. It was also supposed to provide seamless connectivity between MPI and repair shops.

Within two years, the timeline and project costs expanded to five years and $290 million.

While the project’s costs were exploding, then-CEO Eric Herbelin was awarding himself and others bonuses and spending more than three months away from Winnipeg on business trips. He also oversaw a massive hiring spree, adding more than 400 new staff members without a clear idea of what they would be doing.

He announced that the first phase of Project Nova had been implemented on Jan. 25, 2023, declaring it would “ultimately improve customer experience.”

MPI’s board dismissed him three months later.

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Project Nova had been budgeted to cost $107 million when it was announced in 2020, but that price tag had swollen to $435 million earlier this year.

The corporation announced in March it was abandoning the project after acknowledging it had already spent $162 million.

Special risk-extension policies are purchased by owners of vehicles ineligible for basic or extension insurance, including commercial trucking firms. MPI administers about 13,000 SRE policies.

Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said the problems with MPI’s computer system for SREs has made it difficult for companies to make financial plans.

“Has our industry been impacted? Absolutely,” Dolyniuk said.

“The challenge that most of our members have had with it is renewals being delayed and not knowing what they’re going to pay. It makes it hard to manage cash flows when things become delayed.”

Dolyniuk said it is especially hard for companies at a time when trucking is being impacted by American tariff threats and tightening margins.

“Nobody went bankrupt because of this, but the challenge has been the uncertainty,” he said.

Grant Wainikka, CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba, said the system issues have made things challenging for both brokers and their clients.

“It has been difficult to deliver customer service,” Wainikka said. “It has been difficult to communicate that coverage is in place and to communicate price increases from MPI. Many of the problems are because of the computer system that was put in place.”

Matt Wiebe, the minister responsible for MPI, called it another example of mismanagement at MPI during the previous Tory government.

“For years, we saw the mismanagement at MPI and, of course, Project Nova has been a highlight of that — or a lowlight,” Wiebe said.

MPI spokesperson Tara Seel said the switch to the legacy system is temporary. She said about 6,000 policies will be moved back to the old system; 7,000 policies hadn’t been transferred yet.

“Once the new platform is fixed, policies will once again migrate to the new digital system,” she said, adding she didn’t know when the work would be completed.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

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