Winnipeg, Manitoba — The saga of Project Nova continues in Manitoba, as newly released internal emails from MPI raise concerns about McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm carrying out a $12 million review of the project.
Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew released the emails during question period on Wednesday, stating that the chain of messages expressed “very serious concerns about the lack of work that McKinsey has done to earn that $12 million.”
McKinsey was hired by Manitoba Public Insurance in January to carry out an external review of Project Nova, the insurer’s planned transition to online services, to determine the cause of the significant delays and added costs accrued since it was first announced in 2020.
Project Nova was projected to cost about $100 million at the time of its announcement, however, estimates now lay closer to $290 million and its timeline for completion has been extended from three to five years.
Supporting his question as to why the government is investing so much money on a company that is failing to deliver, Kinew pulled a quote from the email chain that reads, “Is removing McKinsey an option?”, speaking to a lack of faith in McKinsey within MPI itself.
Premier Heather Stefanson responded “We have made a directive to the board to ensure that there is a competitive process when it comes to procurement of goods and services at MPI and we’ve also asked for an external organizational review to take place as well.”
Manitoba NDPs have long been critical of the handling of Project Nova, accusing the Conservative government in April of using this review to “buy time” ahead of a provincial election.
In an email with the CBC, an MPI spokesperson says that McKinsey’s consultation has helped in the launch of two phases of Project Nova and that the correspondence referenced by Kinew was presented without full context.
“MPI is proud to deliver value for Manitobans and is committed to completing Project Nova on time and on budget,” they said.
