Immigration New Zealand has been given the green light to proceed with an overhaul of its creaking computer systems that is expected to cost more than $60 million.

The status of the project, which was conceived by the last Labour government, appeared uncertain after no funding was set aside for it in this year's Budget. But Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman told a select committee that it would be paid for with contingency funding and from the agency's existing baselines.

The Government had inherited "significant problems" with Immigration's 16 year-old application management system (AMS), he said. A 2008 auditor-general report found weaknesses in the department's ability to prevent and detect identity fraud by migrants, while a Cabinet paper said 39,000 visa decisions were made in 2007 without direct access to AMS, describing that as a "high-risk situation".

Dr Coleman said Immigration had 60 databases, some of which were not linked, meaning staff could not easily access all the information the agency might hold on visa applicants. "Every immigration officer has access to those databases, but cannot necessarily assemble all the relevant information on one screen."

The replacement system is expected to let immigration officers capture and store biometric information on migrants, allow for consistent, centralised decision-making and let migrants apply for visas and track their applications online.

"One of the issues about quality in immigration is that there is a huge degree of discretion at the front line," Dr Coleman said.

Labour Department deputy chief executive Nigel Bickle, who is responsible for Immigration New Zealand, said it expected to go to tender in September. "We expect to be back in front of ministers in February 2011 for a final investment decision."

Mr Bickle gave the assurance after opposition communications spokesman David Cunliffe clashed with Dr Coleman and officials over the apparent lack of progress.

Mr Cunliffe said that in 2006, the Labour government was advised AMS was on its last legs and could crash at any time. "Almost four years later not only has no progress been made with that change programme, but there is now no money in the Budget to do that."

He said that when Labour was in government, it was told the new IT systems would cost a minimum of $62.4m. That was the "cut-down, bare-bones, minimum number" needed to provide a single view of clients, biometric capability, business rules engines and links to databases maintained by Customs and the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, he said. About $8m has already been spent on preparatory work.

Dr Coleman said that while AMS needed "serious attention", he was confident it was not about to stop working and it was not correct to say there had been no progress replacing it.

"There has been major work done in terms of business processes, diagnosis and re-engineering – that is ongoing work." The Government did not quantify the contingency funding in the Budget as it didn't want to tip suppliers off about how much it expected to spend.

Dr Coleman announced in the Budget that $10m would be spent over four years patching up AMS. Mr Bickle said than in addition to the capital funding, another extra $10m would be spent on running costs. That should buy time for the development of a replacement system, he said.

(Source Dominion Post)