Polytech merger adds nearly $300m for IT upgrade requests

National's Penny Simmonds says the mega-merger's latest budget ask is "embarrassing". (Image: BusinessDesk)

Wed, 22 Mar 2023

The government’s polytechnic mega-merger is seeking an additional $330.2 million to complete the creation of a single national training organisation, $285.9m of which is needed to integrate 35 different software systems into one.According to a commercially sensitive business case accidentally published online before it was taken down yesterday, the programme business case for Te Pūkenga says total additional funding needs total $422.6m between 2023 and 2027 to merge and retool the country’s 16 polytechs.Of the $285.9m forecast for I...

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