Manatee School Board agrees to $525,000 in lawsuit related to troubled software project
The School Board of Manatee County has agreed to pay $525,000 and resolve a lawsuit with Ciber Global LLC, a key player in the district’s troubled ERP project.
The ERP software, or enterprise resource planning system, was prepared under then-Superintendent Diana Greene between 2015 and 2018. School board members — including Karen Carpenter, John Colon, Robert Gause, Charlie Kennedy and Dave Miner — were told in 2016 that new software would modernize the district for less than $10 million.
It was supposed to streamline every corner of their business operations, including payroll, human resources, benefits and purchasing. The system had a ripple effect when it launched with countless errors on July 1, 2018, the same day that Greene became superintendent of Duval County schools.
Her successor, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, hired a consultant who noted serious problems with the system, along with the “enormous expenditure of District funds.”
According to a document later obtained by the Bradenton Herald, the true project cost was more than $27 million when labor, travel and other expenses were taken into account. That analysis included both paid and unpaid invoices.
Tim Bargeron, the associate superintendent of finance, said the total cost was about $29 million as of September. However, he noted, the latest figure included annual licensing fees, maintenance costs and improvements — items separate from the initial ERP rollout.
The original budget increased by millions of dollars after the school board chose to include Manatee Technical College in the software overhaul (a decision made nine months after the project started).
There were also problems with slow decision-making, understaffing and poor planning throughout the project, according to a past investigation by the Bradenton Herald.
The fallout led to finger-pointing between the district and Ciber Global LLC, the main company hired to work alongside district staff and start the ERP system. The company filed a lawsuit in September 2019, demanding $779,000 in unpaid invoices.
District leaders and reports have accused Ciber of not completing its work. In turn, as part of its lawsuit against the School Board, Ciber asked the district to acknowledge that its limited staff and slow decision-making had a negative impact on the project.
Neither side will have to admit wrongdoing after Tuesday’s decision by the School Board. Ciber and the board agreed to a reduced invoice of $525,000 during mediation last October, and the board approved the resolution during this week’s meeting.
“By entering into this Agreement the parties seek to avoid the risk, expense, and disruption associated with protracted litigation relating to the dispute,” the resolution states.
“This Agreement shall not be construed as an admission of liability or wrongdoing on the part of Ciber or the District and their respective agents, employees, or representatives,” it continues.
The resolution also includes a section on “non-disparagement,” bringing their public dispute to an end.
“All parties agree to not make negative, critical or disparaging comments about the other,” it states.
The ERP system has been a source of many headaches, some dating back to January of this year. During a meeting on Jan. 13, the district’s independent Audit Committee reviewed a critical finding: Manatee’s new system was making it hard to complete vital accounting work.
That issue and many others, the superintendent said, have since been resolved. Saunders also said that district employees were growing more comfortable with the new software, a result of training and system improvements.
“I don’t know if I would say it’s perfect, but the system is definitely functioning properly,” she said on Wednesday evening.
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 3:55 PM.