The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr. John Ofori Tenkorang on Thursday clarified that the new management information system software contract secured by the Trust to improve its operations now stands at $72 million from $66 million.
Dr. Tenkorang added that the amount included the cost of the original tender, subsequent modifications, and yearly support fees as well as maintenance charges.
[contextly_sidebar id=”OTMfkkkTdWNYNHwAptETNeKyiO6x8F1T”]He further disclosed that the $72 million cost will continue to appreciate until the system is fully deployed and works effectively.
A document sighted by citifmonline.com stated that the company that was awarded the contract earlier demanded $27 million but some modifications added by SSNIT pushed the amount to $34 million.
The document suggested that the modifications were necessary for the success of the software customized for the operations of SSNIT.
Some of the modifications were additional servers for SSNIT’s contact and data centres, low-end and high-end scanners, storage devices local network construction at the project site.
Others were increasing the mobile biometric unit from 50 to 100, increasing the production of smartcards from 400,000 to 1.3 million as well as engaging IBM to conduct a performance assessment of the newly installed system.
“The contract duration was for a period of eighteen (18) months and it covered the head office, area and branch offices which summed up to fifty-five (55) sites. The complete solutions included various components such as supply, installation and commissioning of the hardware, application software, data conversion, data migration and system integration of all the components,” the document read.
Below is an infographic summarizing the reasons why the original contract amount of $34 million skyrocketed to $66 million and later to $72 million:
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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Melvin M. Clottey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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