State Government

More Powerful CIO to control Computer Purchases
Responding to criticism by NCCBI and others that the state wastes tens of millions of dollars a year through its hodge-podge approach to buying computers and IT systems, the state House and Senate passed legislation giving wide-ranging new powers to the state chief information officer. And even before the bill passed, Gov. Mike Easley had hired an expert who many expect will become the state’s computer point man

The legislation, sponsored originally in the Senate by Wake County Democrat Eric Reeves, gives the CIO to power to draft a State Information Technology Plan and then pass judgment on any anticipated IT purchase of $500,000 or more to ensure the purchase supports the goals of the plan. The House and Senate passed slightly differing versions of the legislation, and at press time a conference committee was working to come up with an acceptable compromise.

The new powers for the state CIO come at the expense of the heads of individual state departments, who have been free to make most computer buying decisions. Several members of the Council of State raised concerns about the bill, including Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who told a House committee that “this is a major power shift. There are a lot of good ideas here, but it really needs additional study.”

The legislation scraps the Information Resource Management Commission (IRMC), a 23-member panel of agency heads, Council of State members (including Marshall) and some appointees from the private sector, which could review but not overrule an agency’s purchasing decisions. Replacing the IRMC will be the Office of State Information Technology Services.

The legislation embodies many recommendations made in a report prepared by the State Budget Office at the request of the General Assembly. The recommendations gained broad currency in May when they were embraced by Governor’s Business Council on Fiscal Reform, a group Gov. Easley appointed – mainly from NCCBI’s leadership ranks — to improve state government efficiency.

The new law has three goals: 1) to establish a systematic process for the planning and financing of the state’s IT resources; 2) to develop standards and accountability measures for IT projects, including criteria for adequate project management; and 3) to implement procurement procedures that will result in cost savings on IT purchases.

The new plan is touted as a way to increase efficiency and cost savings by implementing procurement procedures that will increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Cost savings initiatives may include aggregation of hardware purchases, the use of a formal bid process instead of term contracts, restrictions of supplemental staffing, enterprise software licensing and multi-year maintenance agreements.

A week before the General Assembly passed the legislation, Gov. Easley announced that he had hired Jonathan P. Womer, who has served for the past five years in Washington as a senior policy analyst in the Office of Management and Budget, as an assistant state budget officer for information technology charged with ensuring North Carolina’s IT efforts are efficient and cost effective. He fills a new position in the Office of State Budget and Management that was created through restructuring.

“Womer’s new role is designed to make certain that information technology efforts throughout state government are being performed in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” Easley said. “His past experience in federal government on IT issues will prove invaluable in this position.”

Womer will serve as a liaison between state agencies and the Office of Information and Technology Services and assist with hardware and software purchases. He will coordinate with and assist ITS in its efforts to ensure IT management throughout state government operates uniformly. He will review and conduct cost-benefit analyses and make budget recommendations. In addition, Womer will serve as his office’s liaison with state and federal agencies, the legislature and the public on IT-related matters. He began work July 12.

In his job at OMB in Washington, Womer recommended final federal budget decisions on IT projects for the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Archives and Records Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. A graduate of the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Womer earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in 1994. -- Steve Tuttle



Legislature Gives Governor Millions for Economic Incentives
House and Senate conferees needed only one day to work out their differences over legislation to give Gov. Mike Easley an immediate $20 million appropriation for the One North Carolina Fund, the state’s main economic incentives account. The compromise also gave $4.1 million to the Community College System to fund the New and Expanding Industry Training (NEIT) program, which provides free customized job training for new and expanding industries and is considered an attractive economic development tool.

The legislation also doles out $20 million to the Rural Center for grants to help rural communities upgrade their water and sewer systems and to renovate vacant industrial buildings to attract new businesses. Many of those communities are under water and sewer moratoriums, which stifles their economic development.

All of the spending specified in the legislation was accounted for in the 2004 fiscal year budget.


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