EXCLUSIVE
Phoenix creators helped build failed pay system's business case
Appearance of conflict of interest beginning in early days of Phoenix raises flags
Two companies that were awarded tens of millions of dollars in contracts to help create the new federal pay system played a part in recommending the Phoenix project in the first place, CBC News has learned.
This appearance of a conflict of interest in the very early days of the project is raising flags for those who monitor federal procurement and accountability.
The internal government report that recommended a new pay system in 2009 relied heavily on two studies — one from IBM and another from PricewaterhouseCoopers. These were two of the companies that went on to help develop Phoenix for a combined price tag of more than $200 million — and counting.
"That's a cause for concern," said Christopher Stoney, who follows procurement and accountability issues as a professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University. "[It's] clearly getting into areas here of conflict of interest."
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