State manager coached consultant on tax project, lawmakers told

A project manager who oversaw the $60 million Tax System Modernization project for the state was identified Tuesday as the person who coached an outside consultant on what issues to address and what to say in public reports on the progress of the project.

The Department of Taxation hired a supposedly independent contractor called Advan­Tech LLC to monitor the progress of the department’s computer project, but AdvanTech said in a report made public in December that it had been instructed by state tax officials on which subjects “should and should not” be addressed in its monitoring reports.

The department also requested changes in the Advan­Tech reports before they were made public, which the consultant said is “not the norm” in its experience.

State Tax Director Maria Zielinski abruptly resigned after that last report by AdvanTech was made public in December, but said she never knew the AdvanTech reports “were manipulated in any way.” Zielinski said her resignation was not directly related to the AdvanTech issue.

The state and AdvanTech then mutually agreed to terminate their $1.431 million contract, but state officials never revealed exactly who directed AdvanTech to change its reports. On Tuesday the Senate Government Operations and Ways and Means Committees were told that person was former Project Manager Robert Su.

That revelation prompted state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim to ask why Su was not fired.

State Tax Director Linda Chu Takayama replied that “we’re taking the personnel actions that we think are warranted in this regard. It’s just taking maybe a little bit more time than we would like, but we’re having to follow all of the requirements” of the state Department of Human Resources Development and the Attorney General.

Su was project manager of the computer modernization project for more than four years until July, when he elected to return to his former position as information technology manager for the Department of Taxation, according to a spokeswoman for the department.

The spokeswoman declined to say what action, if any, is being taken against Su because “the state is not at liberty to discuss personnel matters.” Su could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

AdvanTech is an “independent verification and validation” consultant hired by the state after a series of information technology projects were botched dating back to previous administrations. The plan was to use an independent oversight consultant to ensure the Tax System Modernization project progressed as planned and worked as the contractor promised.

The December report by AdvanTech cited a number of concerns about the progress of the ongoing tax project, including what it described as “severe” challenges for the overall project governance structure, management support and communications. However, Takayama said all of those issues now have been resolved.

The overall management of the tax modernization project is now under Executive Assistant and Program Manager Rona M. Suzuki, according to a spokeswoman for the department. Tax officials said the state is hiring a new outside consultant to report on the tax project’s progress.

Tax officials said Advan­Tech was paid a total of $335,000 for seven reports before the contract was ended.