Ghana - Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database

Freedom of Information Act 2000, request no. F2008/103

Date of release: 17 June 2008

Background
In 1998, DFID approved a project to replace Ghana’s old public service payroll system, known as IPPD1 (integrated personnel payroll and database system) with a more modern and robust system (IPPD2). DFID approved a £1.5 million technical support grant to pay for UK managing agents and software, and £2 million of financial assistance to pay for a Government of Ghana contract with local agents of Oracle software. The Government of Ghana provided the hardware. DFID became increasingly dissatisfied with poor implementation and stopped support to the project in 2000. Of the £3.5 million allocation, £2.3 million was disbursed to the Government of Ghana and the remainder was reallocated to other priorities in DFID Ghana’s framework.

Over the next few years, DFID responded to various requests from the Government of Ghana for support with this project. We allocated £3.9 million in 2002 to finish the design of the system and to roll out to ministries. However by 2004, when the project ended, only £129,000 had been spent, mainly on quality assurance of existing work. In July 2004, when the original database (IPPD1) began to fail, DFID allocated £764,000 to stabilise it. The stabilisation process helped restore the payroll network and provided a number of government departments with uninterrupted access to the payroll through the installation of fibre optics and new servers. Whilst the stabilisation was going on, the Ministry of Finance decided to re-launch IPPD2 in 2006. This is the payroll presently in use.

1. How much was spent on external consultants?
£129,000 was spent on quality assurance work carried out in 2001. £83,915 was spent on external consultants for IPPD Stabilisation Phase in 2005.

2. How much was spent on expatriate salaries and allowances during this period?
We do not hold this information.

3. How many people were actually employed on the programme in Ghana?
We do not know precisely how many people were employed on the programme as many short term consultants were recruited, and some intended recruitments did not take place because the project stalled.

4. How the relevant expatriate staff were recruited?
They were recruited according to DFID laid down procurement procedures and rules. Contracts within the international competitive threshold were done according to the EU procurement directives.

5. What programs were employed on the project?
IPPD 1, the original payroll system of the Government of Ghana, was written in the COBOL language and worked on IBM servers. IPPD 2 is an Oracle based system. Oracle was chosen by the Government of Ghana for consistency with other public financial management systems then being introduced. Noetix Software was used in the IPPD stabilisation project as reporting software.

6. What experience and qualifications did the expats bring to the project?
Expatriate staff brought in diverse skills including expertise in implementing Oracle HRMS and Payroll systems using Oracle’s Application Implementation Methodology within a public sector environment, LAN upgrade networking and payroll management and reform. Other skill areas were in IT project management and implementation and expertise in working in other IT environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

7. Why no more budget was used after 2001?
As mentioned above, DFID became increasingly dissatisfied with poor implementation and stopped support to the original project in 2000. Further support provided by DFID is outlined above.

8. Is it true that DFID are seeking further involvement in the government payroll programme and HR database?
DFID has not received a request from the Government of Ghana for further support on payroll. DFID together with other donors would consider the most appropriate approach should the Government of Ghana make such a request.