Jan-2026: Update on the Legacy Replacement Project (LRP) Fiasco - Has the Project Been Cancelled?

NYCERS just sent me a copy of the FY-2025 Schedule of Paymemts to Consultants which appears to be a missing page from the ACFR report for FY-2025.

Significantly, Accenture was not on the list for payment.

The ommission of Accenture, who has the LRP contract, means that NYCERS did not pay Accenture anything for the entire year (July 2024 to June 2025). Accenture was paid $17.0 million in FY-2024. This, then, raises the question whether Accenture is still working on the contract, is there a dispute about the work, or is the contract dead.

As of December 2025 there is no reported resolution to the problems with the LRP project and there is still no clear description of the problems with contract and project.

It is time for the trustees to publicly state what has happened to the LRP project. Is there a DOI investigation?

Seemingly in reaction to the stop payment to Accenture, the payment to Gartner went up from $2.0 million to $3.9 million for technical advice. In addition, the cost for "software, licences, and support" increased from $10.8 million to $16.0 million.

The Accenture Contract

In the Febraury, 2021, NYCERS awarded the LRP contract to Accenture at a cost of $85 million for 5 years. That is roughly an annual charge of $17 million. Work started in June 2021 and was scheduled to finish in September 2026. Best guess now for a completion date is the end of 2030.

Based on the updated ACFR data NYCERS has paid Accenture fot the LRP contract:

FY-2025	$0
FY-2024	$17.9 million
FY-2023	$817,492
FY-2022	$9.8 million
FY-2021	$926,341

Quotes from NYCERS FY-2025 Financial Statement

You can see from the official comments from NYCERS concerning the LRP project that there is no mention of the fact that payemnts have been stopped to Accenture.

2024

The Legacy Replacement Project (LRP) is a complex, multi-year initiative to modernize NYCERS’ business processes and related technologies. The principal objective of the LRP is to replace NYCERS’ legacy production application with a new pension administration system. This new pension administration system will transform the way NYCERS does business and interacts with its members, retirees, employers, and other City agencies. This will be accomplished using flexible up-to-date technologies that will provide ongoing value into the future.

LRP began in June 2021, with a plan to complete the transformation over five years/five phases, with a target completion of September 2026.

Phase 1 was launched in January 2023, introducing foundational functionality that future phases will build upon.

In the midst of Phase 2 delivery, a range of legacy system changes surfaced that impacted the overall timeline. The Systems Integrator proposed to deliver a subset of Phase 2, called Phase 2.0, as this functionality did not rely on those legacy system changes, and we are currently on track for a January 2025 launch.

In parallel to a Phase 2.0 delivery, the Systems Integrator and NYCERS are working on a re-baseline plan for the remaining phases, which will be discussed during the February 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting.

2025

The Legacy Replacement Project (LRP) is NYCERS' multi-year transformation initiative to modernize NYCERS’ core business processes and replace NYCERS' existing legacy pension administration system with a secure, adaptable, and future ready technology platform. This modernization will significantly enhance how NYCERS conducts business and delivers services to members, retirees, employers, and partner City agencies.

Initiated in June 2021 as a five-phase program targeted for completion in September 2026, the project continues to advance.

Phase 1 successfully was launched in January 2023, establishing critical foundational capabilities for future phases.

During Phase 2 development, legacy system dependencies were identified that required timeline adjustments.

In response, the systems integrator and NYCERS delivered a subset of functionality referred to as Phase 2.0 in January 2025, allowing progress to continue, while collaborating on a schedule for the remaining functionality continued.

NYCERS and the systems integrator are actively collaborating on a comprehensive re-baseline plan to complete the project , with an updated schedule and projrct details to be presented to the NYCERS Board of Trustees by April 2026.