Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) has enlisted the services of global consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) to conduct a government-ordered review of its operations.

The Crown corporation confirmed to the Winnipeg Press that EY will investigate its expenditures, major projects, investments, revenue projections, and service delivery, with a final report due by the end of the year.

Manitoba’s justice minister, Kelvin Goertzen, ordered an organizational review of MPI in April amid concerns about rising costs associated with its IT renewal project.

MPI’s Project Nova had seen its budget balloon from $86 million to $290 million since it was first announced in 2019, prompting the Public Utilities Board (PUB) to order additional oversight and financial reporting.

“The corporation should be proceeding with prudence and focusing on critical business needs while avoiding cost overruns associated with increasing the scope of Project Nova beyond the core need to modernize technologies to run the business,” the PUB said in January.

Concerns over MPI’s leadership were later reinforced by a series of controversies surrounding former CEO Eric Herbelin, who was dismissed by the corporation’s board of directors in May following an internal investigation into “work-related conduct.”

The investigation into Herbelin’s conduct was initiated by board chairman Michael Sullivan, who resigned from the position after news outlets reported that Herbelin received a 3% pay raise in 2022 and spent 38 business days for travelling.

Further scrutiny came after one former MPI executive was found to have been reimbursed $23,500 for commute expenses as part of an arrangement with the former CEO.

The scope of the organizational review ordered by the government will include an examination of MPI’s lines of business, allocation of resources, senior management complement, operational expenditures, as well as procedures for projecting and forecasting.

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