GSIS in talks with three new IT companies

MANILA, Philippines - The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is in talks with at least three new information technology firms that could provide the agency a reliable software that would be able to handle its huge volumes of data following the recent crash of its system, its top official said.

GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia said the agency is in talks with three possible service providers including Oracle, a software company.

“We are assessing a new database system,” Garcia said.

Garcia said within the next four months, GSIS hopes to choose a new information technology firm that would be able to provide a suitable software to handle the agency’s requirements.

Last March 30, GSIS’ database system collapsed, affecting 90 percent of the agency’s operations, including the processing of loans and claims and the updating of membership records.

GSIS has blamed IBM Corp. for the crash, pointing to IBM’s allegedly defective DB2 database management system as the culprit.

IBM’s business partner Questronix Corp. used IBM’s system. In 2006, Questronix won the bid to implement the Integrated Loans, Membership, Acquired Assets and Accounts Management System project of the GSIS worth P80 million.

The project is supposed to handle all information and processing requirements of membership, loans origination and administration, acquired assets, and accounts management of the GSIS.

GSIS has already filed a case against IBM before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. It has asked the court to order IBM to pay GSIS P100 million in damages and to be liable for breach of contract when it allegedly supplied defective software to GSIS.

In its complaint, GSIS said IBM has not provided a solution to the problem.

GSIS said that IBM has yet to provide a new platform that would permanently solve the database crashes.

The GSIS is also suing Questronix because the IT contractor failed to honor a provision in its contract, which said the supplier must remedy defects in the project.

The agency added it even entered into a maintenance agreement with Questronix for the latter to maintain, preserve, and keep in the good condition the DB2 software.

As such, GSIS said it is constrained to claim actual and compensatory damages of at least P80 million, P10 million for moral damages, P8 million for exemplary damages, and P2 million for litigation expenses and lawyers’ fees.

IBM, for its part, said that it played no role in the supply, installation and support of the GSIS system.

“Nonetheless, since being contacted about GSIS’ problems, IBM has worked with its partners to try to help resolve the problems apparently caused by GSIS’ failure to follow industry norms and best practices in the handling of its data. IBM DB2 has thousands of clients globally, and to date, GSIS is the only organization to report these type of issues. IBM has been a dedicated partner and corporate citizen of the Philippines since 1937, and thousands of satisfied customers rely upon IBM products and solutions every day.”