A Fail Grade: What Organisations Can Learn From The 2020 Leaving Certificate

The announcement by the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, last week that errors in the code used to build software to calculate Leaving Certificate grades has caused a miscalculation of the grades given to over 6,000 students will have been disappointing for the government, third level institutions and students and their families alike. Polymetrika International Inc. had been engaged by the State to provide two months' worth of statistical and other services in the event that the examinations were cancelled. It was later engaged again, on a daily rate, to write code for the calculated grades system. Amounts paid to the company are said to total €163,000.

It became clear that Polymetrika were engaged without a "normal, full procurement process" having taken place due, according to the government, to the time constraints involved. Questions are now being asked also about what diligence, if indeed any, was done on Polymetrika prior to engaging it for the services and