Dec-2025 Update on the Legacy Replacement Project Fiasco - The Trustees have a Fiduciary Responsibility to Investigate

As of the NYCERS Board of Trustees meeting on December 11, 2025, the acting executive director again has no update on the Legacy Replacement Project.

"The project is in red status - there no fix to the scope and schedule of the $84 million contract - no questions asked"

It is now one year since this the project has stalled.

In the midst of this chaos, the trustees chose to appoint Liz Reyes, the mastemind of the LRP fiasco, as the new executive director of NYCERS. I wonder if the new mayor is aware of this lunacy?

I have good reason to suspect that the trustees are very aware of the LRP mess, especially because that there have been no questions on the record about this issue and a shut down from the chair when a stray question was asked.

Then why did the trustees appoint Reyes as the new executive director. It maybe that they couldn't get anyone else to take on the problems. You can just image what a new person would have to do to straighten out the LRP mess. Who on staff could he/she trust? Who would he/she have to fire. Are any trustees implicated?

NYCERS FY-2025 Financial Statement

On a related item, NYCERS just released its FY-2025 financial report. You can see from the two quotes below (FY-2024 and FY-2025) the PR spin NYCERS is putting on this mess. I get the creppy feeling that they were AI generated.

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.

Hiding Data

There was a strange omission in this year's report. In particular a schedule of payments to consultants was missing from the report. This schedule has been in the annual reports since 1986, the first year that the NYCERS report was published.

I suspect that NYCERS became aware that I was able to track the runaway spending through this schedule.

Below is an image of the schedule from FY-2024. You can click on the image and then open it another tab to get a bigger display of the image.

Last year's (2024) total cost for consulatnts was $40.4 million. This year's (2025) total is $29.0 million. This refelects the hold on the LRP contract.

The cost, however, for "software, licences, and support" has increased from $10.8 million to $16.0 million from 2024 to 2025.