Pennsylvania sues IBM over troubled $110M IT upgrade

Pennsylvania is suing IBM over a $110 million IT project to upgrade its unemployment compensation system that the state says was never completed.

The lawsuit alleges that state residents ultimately paid $170 million "for what was supposed to be a comprehensive, integrated, and modern system that it never got," Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement last Thursday announcing the lawsuit.

Asked to comment, an IBM spokesperson said: ""The claims alleged by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are without merit. IBM will vigorously defend itself against this lawsuit."

But the odds were against this project from the start, according Jim Johnson, founder and chairman of Standish Group, which studies and consults on software project management. "Successful projects of this size are very, very rare," said Johnson.

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