Lifesaver in Project Ocean debacle?

There may yet be closure in the Project Ocean debacle. Or resolution. Or something.

According to the Computer World website, officials from the city of Philadelphia today announced an agreement in principle with software giant Oracle Corporation to restart the water-billing system initiative, reportedly at no extra cost to the city, in which Oracle will provide additional off-the-shelf utility billing software. This latest chapter in the saga was reported by City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr.

As reported on this website and others, August saw the halting of the three-year multimillion-dollar “Project Ocean,” a CRM software project in which Oracle was contracted to implement “the most complex and biggest IT system” in the Philadelphia government.

“We’ll have the functionality that the city requires and be able to meet budget requirements and have the billing system up and running sometime in the fall of 2007,” Diaz optimistically stated. Fall of 2007 is indeed a key date, as it marks the end of sitting mayor John Street’s government.

Originally written in 2003, the contract with had the firm replacing Philly’s outdated financial systems within their water department. The project was supposed to be completed in twelve months for a total price of US $7 million. More than three years later, the city still has no updated systems and has spent some US $18 million.

The Project Ocean story has featured corruption, resignations of long-standing public officials, and embarrassing headlines spread worldwide. The project had been officially halted in August 2005, with the Mayor’s Office of Information Services seeking to analyze alleged overpayment; by March 2006, city officials proclaimed the investigation finished and Project Ocean was reportedly back on track, but there was dispute as to whether Oracle employees were even doing work on the project at that point.

Outgoing CIO Dianah Neff attempted to put a positive spin on the Project Ocean disaster, while citing high personnel turnover and unforeseen technical complexity among reasons for Project Ocean’s failure. Neff leaves her public-sector position in Philadelphia tomorrow. She confirmed the US $18 million figure, with or without this latest agreement, and stated that a like project would normally cost US $32 million.

No word from anyone, though, as to why the low low price of US $7 million was ever taken seriously, much less accepted by city officials. In fact, Computer World has Neff stating that ultimately the cost to the city of Philadelphia will most likely exceed US $18 million, due to a need to hire further subcontractors for future work on the project.

To add a little more fat to the scandal fire, an ethics board currently has sights set on Neff, who sees problems in a US $300,000 project involving Civitium and the city of Philadelphia. Civitium is Neff’s employer as of Monday.