NZTA cannot say how much app launch cost

WELLINGTON: The Transport Agency has revealed it spent many thousands of dollars on an event to launch an online app in Queenstown — but it has failed to record just how much.

In an Official Information Act response, it said 15 of its staff from around the country attended the launch in August 2017.

‘‘However, this is based on recollections of staff who attended as there is no official list of people who actually attended the launch,’’ the agency told RNZ in the OIA.

At least half of the 15 were from the agency’s hightech unit Connected Journeys Solutions, that was shut down this year after flouting public sector controls.

NZTA says its hire of the Hilton Hotel in Kawarau Village cost $4000.

It could not provide full launch costs because it ‘‘would require the Transport Agency to go through thousands of lines of invoice spreadsheets.’’

The agency sent its communications manager and media manager to the launch, which was helmed by Transport Minister Simon Bridges.

The Queenstown app was based on a data platform provided by a Silicon Valley company, MZ, that got the work without it going to public tender.

The agency told RNZ that Connected Journeys did not always follow its standard corporate policy and processes, ‘‘which resulted in poor recordkeeping practices’’. It had now improved record keeping, it said.

In 2017 NZTA spent almost $90,000 on catering for the Waterview Tunnel opening in Auckland, and $113,000 for a Waterview video shot at the time of the opening. — RNZ