Agilisys has held a mirror up for the States of Guernsey to see its own failures after the “absolute disaster” of the MyGov project was laid bare.
In a report researched and written by the The States’ Chief Executive and Head of the Public Service, the MyGov project has now been confirmed as costing £21.6 million while delivering virtually nothing of benefit to the island.
A spokesperson for Agilisys has said that report makes it clear that “the challenges stemmed from the programme’s design and poor governance, not delivery alone”.
The MyGov project was part of a wider IT transformation programme that Aigilisys was tasked with delivering through the SMART Guernsey programme.
Agilisys signed a £200m ten year contract with the States in 2019 to help bring about public service reform, including putting all of the States’ services online.
Agilisys was sacked in 2025 – with its work now being done by different contractors.
Before the States and Agilisys parted company, Guernsey had paid the company more than £16m for the failed MyGov project alone.
In his report, Boley Smillie has said an additional £1.6m was spent on external consultancy, £2.3m on internal recharges, and £1.5m on ‘other costs’.
The States’ Chief Executive named the IT firm in his report with some outright criticism writing that “an over-reliance on Agilisys influenced how information was presented, and reporting did not consistently provide a clear or complete picture” and that “as a result, the full extent of risks and delivery challenges was not always visible, limiting the opportunity for intervention”.
He also wrote that “programme reporting often appeared polished and presented to a high standard, particularly by Agilisys, but this masked underlying issues”.
Mr Smillie claims relationships between external contractors, including Agilisys, and internal States’ teams were not effectively managed, and that “Agilisys exercised a
degree of control that should not have been ceded to a third party and senior
leadership did not exert sufficient grip in commercial matters”.
Agilisys appears to have accepted some of that criticism – but it is not accepting full responsibility for the States’ MyGov woes.
A spokesperson for the company said it has considered the report carefully but it does not accept all its findings or characterisations.
“What (the) report makes clear, and what previous Scrutiny reports have also highlighted, is a consistent pattern of criticism of the States of Guernsey’s own governance, leadership, capability, oversight, and control,” said Agilisys’ spokesperson.
“The report makes clear that the remit of the MyGov programme was repeatedly shifted by the States of Guernsey, with its scope changed multiple times, projects renamed, services redefined and expectations reduced, rather than the underlying problems being addressed.
“It also identifies weak internal controls, poor leadership, failures of challenge and intervention, and a lack of clarity over accountability. While it acknowledges that there is no evidence of intentional wrongdoing, it concludes that the programme was characterised by poor leadership and an overestimation of the States of Guernsey’s ability to recover delivery and realise benefits.”
Agilisys has identified how “complex” the MyGov programme was, and it agrees with Mr Smillie that its implementation was impacted by the covid pandemic, but “decisions on scope, governance, funding, reporting, and implementation ultimately rested with the States as the contracting authority and public body,” said the spokesperson.
“We also note that it is standard practice for key suppliers to be part of Programme governance subject to the leadership role of the States of Guernsey.”
Agilisys has not done any work for the States of Guernsey since July 2025 – but the company has said it is proud of the contribution its staff made before then.
The people involved in the signing of the original contract are either no longer working for the States or Agilisys or are in different roles now.
However, Agilisys’ spokesperson has said the company still can’t talk openly about what happened.
“We would, finally, caution against conflating the issues examined in this report with the termination of Agilisys’s contract in 2025. Considering that process, our ability to comment further is necessarily limited.
“Our team in Guernsey worked with professionalism and commitment throughout, and we remain proud of their contribution.”