Auditors investigate NZTA Connected Journeys unit

Auditors have been brought in by the NZ Transport Agency to investigate its high-tech Connected Journeys unit.

Deloitte New Zealand will study what the NZTA says are “a range of concerns” related to the historical governance, management and activities of the unit.

The Connected Journeys Solutions (CJS) Group was incorporated into a new Operations Group within the agency in January 2019.

The move was “along with a number of other changes aimed at simplifying our organisational structure by grouping functions together”, according to an NZTA spokesman in March.

The CJS team spent almost $6.7 million on IT projects, Stuff reports.

The unit was formed in 2017 to investigate new technology to improve transport and ran trials of transport information apps in Queenstown (Choice) and Auckland (Ridemate).

A report from Deloitte is expected by the end of May.

The NZTA says the review centres on the unit’s operating state and is also covering where necessary any historical behaviour and issues which may have contributed to any current risks and issues.

Several people have left the NZTA in the past year, including its chair Michael Stiassny, deputy chair Dame Fran Wilde, chief executive officer Fergus Gammie, CJS director Martin McMullan and board members Adrienne Young-Cooper and Chris Ellis.