The Government has ordered a fresh independent financial audit into the failed Biometric Capability Upgrade (BCU) project after officials uncovered a further $6 million in costs, raising new questions over the true scale of taxpayer losses.
The BCU was a seven-year project within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) aimed at upgrading the Government’s biometric capability before it was abandoned in December 2025.
MBIE had previously advised ministers, Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee, and the public that approximately $33 million would need to be written off following the project’s cancellation. However, while reviewing responses MBIE had provided to the select committee, the responsible minister’s office identified inconsistencies in the financial information.
Following further inquiries, MBIE Chief Executive Carolyn Tremain advised that an additional $6 million in project-related expenditure had been identified. She also acknowledged she could not be confident that the newly identified costs represented the full amount spent on the project.
As a result, the Chief Executive has commissioned an independent financial audit to establish the total expenditure on the failed programme.
Immigration minister Erica Stanford said the latest development follows concerns raised by the Greg James review, which questioned whether MBIE may have used “creative accounting” to keep the project’s whole-of-life cost below the $35 million threshold that would have required Cabinet approval.
The Government has now referred the matter to both the ongoing Michael Heron inquiry into the Biometric Capability Upgrade and the Public Service Commissioner, saying the newly identified costs raise broader concerns about MBIE’s financial controls.
Ministers have also asked the Public Service Commissioner to consider expanding the scope of the Heron inquiry to ensure every aspect of the Biometric Capability Upgrade project, including its financial management, is fully examined.
The Biometric Capability Upgrade (BCU) was an IT project run by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to replace and modernise Immigration New Zealand’s ageing biometric identity management systems. It was intended to improve how the agency verifies the identities of visa applicants and travellers by using biometric information such as facial images and fingerprints. The upgraded platform was also expected to strengthen identity verification, reduce immigration fraud, improve border security, and modernise the collection, storage and use of biometric data across the immigration system.
Image credit: George Prentzas
