School District ERP Scandal Deepens

BRADENTON – Manatee County Schools owes a tech vendor $1.36 million in unpaid invoices for a massive Enterprise Resource Project that already grew from $10 million to more than $20 million while coming in 17 months behind schedule. An outside report commissioned by the district’s interim superintendent released this week suggests it’s going to get much worse before it gets better.

The project was initiated by former superintendent Diana Greene, who left the district unexpectedly for a job in Duval County this summer with two years remaining on her contract. Greene initially told the board that it could be done for $10 million, though what followed was a costly string of delays and change orders that saw the project more than double in cost.

Cynthia Saunders, who was appointed interim superintendent upon Greene’s departure, was reportedly told on her first day in the new role that the beleaguered project would need even more money to be completed. Saunders balked and the district ultimately conducted an internal investigation that revealed more than $100,000 in spending on the project that had not received the required school board approval.

Deputy Superintendent Ron Ciranna, who headed the program, was placed on paid administrative leave while the district investigated what role, if any, Ciranna had in what the district called, "payments and scope of work related to the ERP process that may not have gone through proper authorization."

Saunders then commissioned an outside report, which was undertaken by retired Seminole Schools Deputy Superintendent George Kosmac. Kosmac’s report, which can be viewed in full here, not only cited immediate problems that need to be rectified but warned that "new problems will continue to surface as time progresses," which will continue to add to the project’s final tab.

What's worse, the district's contract with the vendor, Ciber Inc, ended Friday.

In his report, Kosmac described a long, inefficient and costly development and implementation process that produced an end product, which went live July 1, that still has half-completed processes that are "insufficient and useless," while employees struggle to make use of a new system that still requires tremendous manual input.

The system was intended to bring the district’s antiquated software and hardware modules from many realms under one umbrella, modernizing processes that were still heavy on paper forms being passed between levels and departments.

State auditors have informed district officials that they will be conducting their own audit on the ERP project.