Professional services firm Accenture has won a €30m contract to build a new finance technology platform and management system for Government departments.
The system, which will take around three years to complete, will replace 31 existing finance systems across Government departments and offices, and facilitate transaction processing in the Financial Management Shared Service Centre.
When fully operational it will process around 625,000 invoices, and account for in excess of €50bn in gross expenditure.
The departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, will be some of the first organisations to be served by the new system - which is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2018.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said the centre is expected to deliver annual savings to the Exchequer of around a third, estimated at €15.4m annually.
This will be achieved through a reduction in the cost of support for existing finance technology and a reduction of around 25% in the number of staff required to carry out finance administration, according to the department.
The department said affected staff members "will be redeployed to more value-add finance roles or vacancies in other areas within the Civil Service".
Minister Paschal Donohoe said the new system “will enable finance teams to focus on strategic improvements that will enhance decision making as a result of more in-depth analysis of expenditure and public finances”.
The new centre will be staffed and managed by civil servants and it will be based in existing shared services offices in Galway, Tullamore and Killarney.
It will operate under the governance of the National Shared Services Office (NSSO).
