Auditor general to review MPI’s failed Project Nova

The province’s auditor general has agreed to take a deep dive into Manitoba Public Insurance’s technology infrastructure boondoggle Project Nova.

Auditor general Tyson Shtykalo was asked last month by NDP Finance Minister Adrien Sala to investigate the now-scuttled project, which was originally estimated to cost $107 million but by the time MPI terminated it in March had grown to an estimated price tag of $435 million — of which $165 million had already been spent.

Satvir Jatana, MPI president and CEO, said in a statement on Wednesday: “We have recently received news that the auditor general has accepted the request and will be moving forward with the audit. We are committed to working alongside the auditor and his team to complete this work.”

Shtykalo could not be reached for comment.

In May, the Consumers’ Association of Canada (Manitoba) wrote to the auditor general asking for such an audit.

The letter said it was needed “to prevent repetition of past mistakes by MPI and other public institutions and to complement the Public Utilities Board’s protection of Manitobans’ interests in setting auto insurance rates.”

Last month, Sala wrote to the auditor general, saying an internal government review had found a number of “concerns” about MPI’s management of Nova.

“A review, by Treasury Board secretariat, identified concerns about the selection of the software and the system integrator, terms of the vendor contract and irregularities in contract practices,” Sala wrote. “In addition, MPI is expected to continue paying software licences that will not be used in the future years.”

Project Nova was announced in 2020 by the then-Tory government as a major computer upgrade by the Crown auto insurer, enabling both its Autopac and commercial customers to go online to renew or amend insurance policies and driver’s licences.

As well, the system was to be designed to speed up processing of damage claims by linking together MPI and repair shops.

Then-MPI CEO Eric Herbelin said at the time it would cost $107 million and be implemented within three years.

Two years later, the estimated cost of the project had ballooned to $290 million and the implementation time was pushed to five years. By 2023, Herbelin had been fired by the MPI board after an internal performance review.

His replacement, Jatana, later not only terminated all future Nova work (because the total estimated cost was now $435 million) but in early 2025 also said MPI was temporarily disabling part of what it had already implemented — the computer program used for special risk-extension (SRE) renewals and new policies for commercial customers — while going back to a former paper-based system.

“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,” Jatana said in an email sent in April to staff members which was obtained by the Free Press.

“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.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca