On July 1 the government unveiled the first stage of the a centralized financial planning system, but the level of training remains low
At a roundtable discussion, leaders of the government’s finance and technology sectors celebrated the one-month mark of the Integra PR platform but acknowledged that the implementation of the first phase of the centralized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has encountered issues with invoice validation.
In compliance with mandates from the Financial Oversight and Management Board, the government has been working to implement an ERP system since 2018, with an investment totaling $117 million to date. This initial stage focuses on external government suppliers, while the second phase—expected to launch in early 2027—will include employee payroll management, explained Orlando Rivera Berríos, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Ángel Pantoja Rodríguez highlighted that the Integra PR platform has already processed and disbursed over $600 million across more than 8,000 invoices. However, when questioned by the press about suppliers reporting non-payment, Pantoja acknowledged difficulties in the invoice validation process. He argued, however, that such issues are a normal part of the initial implementation phase for a complex system. The Secretary compared the rollout of Integra to that of the Unified Internal Revenue System (SURI by its Spanish acronym).
“I have the experience of having been at the Department of the Treasury for over eight or nine years; I saw the implementation of SURI firsthand. I remember people during that rollout trying to handle simple tasks—like setting up a username and password or accessing the system to retrieve their withholding statements, W-2s, or 480 forms. And it was a challenge—a huge challenge,” said Pantoja.
The secretary explained that Integra PR centralized the payment system within the Department of the Treasury; however, the department cannot verify that contractors or suppliers have fully met the terms of their contracts. Consequently, the agencies themselves must conduct a “pre-screen” to validate the invoices.
Poincaré Díaz Peña, Director of Puerto Rico’s Innovation and Technology Service, argued that there were implementation issues that could only be identified by letting the program run.
Officials present at the roundtable could not specify exactly how many invoices are pending.
Despite the billing issues, the OGP director asserted that this ERP system offers significant benefits for suppliers and the invoicing process, as contracts and invoices can now be managed online. Furthermore, agencies have shifted from manual account management—with transaction updates occurring only once a month—to daily updates performed automatically by the system.
Regarding internal agency operations, Rivera Berríos also hopes to establish a unified system that allows agencies to validate their funds.
“The government of Puerto Rico was relying on systems from the 1990s, and over that period, various agencies implemented different financial systems, which fragmented the government’s budgetary and financial information,” Rivera argued.
To date, the Integra platform has registered 20,000 users, including employees, contractors, and other citizens. At the agency level, approximately 2,500 employees have undergone training; they are expected to assist colleagues within their respective agencies in navigating the Integra PR platform. On the contractor side, around 700 suppliers have received training.
