BU seeks auditor for ERP review

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This article was published 12/02/2025 (269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon University has issued a request for proposals to find an alternative third-party auditor to evaluate its failed multimillion-dollar enterprise resource planning project — a change from the previous search for an auditor.

The ERP project, launched in 2020 under the “Renew BU” initiative, was intended to modernize the university’s academic and administrative systems by replacing its outdated 1978 homegrown software. After four years of development and millions spent in development, the project was officially halted in early 2024, leaving BU without a functional system.

This new public RFP process is a somewhat different selection process than the BU Board of Governors first employed. In an email to administration and students on Jan. 20 sent on behalf of board chair Kevan Sumner, it was stated that “at the advice of the Office of the Auditor General, an invitation to bid was sent to multiple pre-approved consulting firms.”

Bids were then received and reviewed, and the board had selected KPMG as the firm to carry out the review.

The university posted the RFP on Feb. 3 after KPMG withdrew due to a conflict of interest involving its ties to Anthology, the Florida-based ERP provider that was tasked in 2020 to replace the university’s aging software.

When asked why the university had chosen to use an open RFP process, Sumner said that they were “running out of pre-approved organizations.”

“There was some conflicts identified on that list,” Sumner said. “And then we, as you know, had the one selected consultant withdraw literally a couple of days before making the final signoff on the project.

“So we went back to our procurement staff … and we directed our administration to proceed with going back to an RFP process, having realized that we were getting down to a pretty small pool of recommended firms.”

The background information provided within the RFP for bidders also includes a notable difference in the stated amount of money that the university spent on the failed project than was first reported by The Brandon Sun.

One year ago, the Sun reported that the university spent approximately $6 million in local staff salaries and fees to Anthology toward the system’s development.

However, Appendix A of the RFP states that “the university expenditure for the project prior to termination was approximately five million dollars.”

“There were some erroneous numbers I know communicated, especially last spring,” Sumner said. “And at least partially from I think, just from miscommunication or misunderstanding of within the university of what money had been spend on the project.”

Sumner said he would provide a more detailed breakdown of the costs associated with the project in the days ahead.

The successful auditing company will be tasked with several activities under Brandon University’s RFP, including:

• Provide consulting services to perform an independent review of the ERP implementation project.

• Organize and lead discussions with key team members (up to 20 people) to identify gaps/findings/concerns with documentation, decisions and approaches to the project.

• Organize consultation with interested representatives (small groups) of the university community to document project concerns to ensure concerns of thematically addressed in the assessment.

• Review and analyze the timing of certain key decisions, resources allocated, expenditures and the reporting structure of the project to meet the project’s goals

• Review the use of an external consultant who led the university in their work to select and ERP software provider and guide the implementation process, and determine the value of the external consultant to the university.

• And review the ERP software provider’s documentation, decisions and work/actions to meet the project goals.

The current submission deadline for the RFP is Feb. 24, 2025. The university intends to award the contract within four weeks of the closing date. Bidders are expected to include an estimated project completion timeline as part of their proposal.

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

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