The state of Vermont has postponed the launch of a $70 million technology modernization program, and some lawmakers worry the delay signals deeper problems that could derail the project altogether.
The rollout of the Enterprise Resource Planning Modernization Program had been scheduled to hit a major milestone this fall, when the component that processes payroll, benefits and other human resource functions was set to “go live.”
Top administration officials told ERP project leaders last week, however, that the program “has reached an important inflection point,” according to an email obtained by Vermont Public. The planned launch of the HR component has been pushed back, the email said, until all aspects of the new system are fully ready.
“This pivot will involve a period of realignment and strategic planning as we chart the best path forward,” Digital Services Secretary Denise Reilly-Hughes and Administration Secretary Sarah Clark wrote.
Reilly-Hughes said in an interview Wednesday that the various components of the ERP program are more “heavily interdependent” than project leaders previously anticipated. The decision to pursue a “unified launch,” which she said will happen sometime in 2028, “is a really strong indicator of the maturity of where we are.”
“I’m pleased with where we’re at in this process,” Reilly-Hughes said, noting the 2028 target is in line with previous estimates for overall project completion.
“We’ve seen some smoke signals ... that indicate we should be paying more attention.”Dover Rep. Laura Sibilia
The lawmakers responsible for oversight of state IT projects are less enthusiastic.
Bennington County Sen. Rob Plunkett, the Democratic chair of the Legislature’s Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee, said legislative watchdogs have been raising concerns about the project since shortly after it began in 2022.
“And we don’t know how long this (delay) is going to bump the timeline out, or even if this is a hiccup that would derail it,” Plunkett said.
The project is supposed to replace legacy human resources, finance and budgeting systems across all three branches of state government with a cloud-based platform that, according to the Agency of Administration, will be “easier to use, easier to maintain, and built for the future.”
Lawmakers such as Bradford Rep. Monique Priestley, the Democratic vice chair of the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee, say the upgrade is vital.
“The systems need to come up to 2026 standards,” she said.
But Priestley said she’s skeptical whether the software upon which ERP is built can perform the functions state government requires. A 2024 report by the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office found that the state procured a software vendor — WorkDay — before it analyzed the needs of the systems that are being replaced. The lack of that analysis, according to the report, could result in “unresolvable differences between the business requirements and the system capabilities.”
Priestley said the Scott administration has not been able to allay her concerns. She said she’s worried the state continues to invest “sunk costs” into a system with fatal deficiencies.
“I think the biggest concern for me is, are we trying to push a software solution on the state of Vermont that won’t actually ever be able to meet the requirements that are needed to manage our employees and our finance system?” Priestley said.
Reilly-Hughes said she’s confident the Workday technology is sound.
“I do not foresee that anything that would be business critical to the way we operate in state government that this current solution will not be able to solve,” she said.
She said abandoning the phased rollout in favor of a single launch will give the state “a chance for us to get in front of the challenges early and not see cost overruns.”
State lawmakers say they’ll be keeping close watch.
Calling the delay a “really troubling sign,” Dover Rep. Laura Sibilia, an independent who sits on the House Committee on Energy and Digital Services, said, “we’ve seen some smoke signals coming up out of agencies that indicate we should be paying more attention.”
