August 2008 Archives

In November of 2008, 11 gubernatorial seats are up for election. These electoral races could have a significant impact on the direction of Information Technology within those states. If new governors are elected into office, a different strategic direction for the state as well as a new executive staff may result.  Here are offices at stake in November:

Delaware- Current Governor is termed out
Indiana- Incumbent is running
Missouri-Current Governor is not seeking re-election
Montana- Incumbent is running
New Hampshire- Incumbent is running
North Carolina-Current Governor is termed out
North Dakota- Incumbent is running
Utah- Incumbent is running
Vermont- Incumbent is running
Washington- Incumbent is running
West Virginia- Incumbent is running

In addition, the current Alaska Governor Palin has recently been announced as a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Virtualization can't be ignored--it's in the news on what seems like a daily basis. Gartner says that it will be the highest impact trend in the infrastructure and operations market through 2012. But virtualization has been around for decades, so why is it an imperative now?

Virtualization wasn't utilized in the past because:

• Jurisdictions were focused on fixing problems more often than creating efficiencies
• Virtualization technologies weren't perceived to be mature enough for enterprise application
• Government IT environments lacked sophistication/maturity levels needed
• Purchasing a new machine was much easier and cheaper
• IT consumption was lower--space was relatively abundant
• Embarrassing utilization rates were not widely published

As environments and technologies have matured, virtualization is being seen a solution that addresses a variety of issues simultaneously:

• Green IT pressures
• Consolidation and centralization
• Space and energy consumption
• Disaster recovery and emergency preparedness
• Cost savings and increased efficiencies
• Political pressures stemming from an increased focus on analytics and spend tracking

As long as IT consumption continues to explode and there is a focus on efficiencies (down budgets, green initiatives etc.) virtualization will continue to be a convenient, effective prescription.

As a former CIO for the State of Colorado, I'm very interested and, indeed, overjoyed that Colorado, under Mike Locatis' leadership, is embarking on an IT Consolidation passed into law this summer.  It's been a long time in coming and fits in with the efforts of other states that have also determined that IT Consolidation is a way to go for them.  Most are excited about this while some, employees, vendors, and elected officials, have some concerns and are waiting to see the results.  No doubt some approach the pending changes with concern while others welcome the promises of the new order of things.

The goals for IT Consolidation are driven by economics and the desire for efficiencies.  However, one's perspective on efficiency depends on where that person sits.  An employee that had the freedom to make decisions before may find that the new order restricts that decision making authority.  A vendor that enjoyed sales to multiple agencies and a close relationship with those agencies may find it harder to compete when purchases are aggregated in the name of economy of scale.  IT Consolidation can be different things to different people and groups.

So, to get the discussion going, here's the request I have from readers of this Blog:  From where you sit, what is the impact, if any, on you and your organization as a result of the trend toward more IT Consolidations?

Please feel free to contribute by clicking on the "comment" link and watch for other comments.  I'm looking forward to learning what you have to say.

Bob Feingold, Senior Fellow

"It is a sign you have been a around too long," quipped Mark Noriega, a Director at Deloitte and tireless community volunteer, in accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Center for Digital Government's Second Annual Industry Summit, held this year in Colorado Springs, CO. Nice work! (Mark is seen here with the Center's Executive Director Cathilea Robinett.)

The gathering of executives from leading system integrators and related technology companies focused on a day long examination of state and local government. It was the second annual Industry Summit, convened by the Center for Digital Government.

The hundred or so industry delegates allowed an anonymous peak under the covers of their respective companies' prime targets in SLG.

It is not at all surprising the public safety and human services topped the list but, interestingly, there was consensus on only two items -- on enterprise IT infrastructure near the top of the list and parks and recreation at the very bottom.

Slicing the market by the technologies in which government is likely to invest, infrastructure again topped the list -- second only to virtualization (which may be an aspirational ranking, given the composition of the audience).  Interestingly, the industry reps see a continuing government focus on information security, consolidation and connectivity.  They see only middling opportunities for legacy modernization, shared services and software-as-a-service.  Representing sales organizations as they do, the results also indicate three items that just don't seem ready to move -- sadly, they are business process models and identity/ access management.

State and local governments are using the Web 2.0 service Twitter to post alerts, notices and updates to the web to reach the growing number of online users.

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows people to communicate and connect through short messages or "tweets". These messages or tweets can be sent via your PC, phone, instant message and numerous third party applications.

If you are a Twitter member, you can "follow" these state and local elected officials and jurisdictions:

• California Department of Vehicles: http://twitter.com/CA_DMV
• Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: http://twitter.com/schwarzenegger
• CALPERS: http://twitter.com/CalPERS
• Colorado: http://twitter.com/coloradogov
• Kentucky: http://twitter.com/kygov
• Louisville, Kentucky: http://twitter.com/louisvillekygov
• Louisville, Kentucky Metro Government Events Calendar: http://twitter.com/loukyevent
• Maine: http://twitter.com/www_maine_gov
• Michigan Governor Granholm: http://twitter.com/govgranholm
• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: http://twitter.com/johncherry
• Nebraska: http://twitter.com/nebraskagov
• Rhode Island: http://twitter.com/rigov
• South Carolina: http://twitter.com/SCGOV
• Utah: http://twitter.com/UtahGov
• Vermont: http://twitter.com/vermontgov

The Georgia Technology Authority issued a Request for Proposal to qualified vendors who pre-qualified to bid on contracts to enhance the state's e-government services.

The RFP was issued to the following pre-qualified vendors: BearingPoint, Deloitte Consulting and NICUSA, Inc. According to the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA), the potential service providers were selected to receive the RFPs based on their responses to an earlier Request for Qualified Contractors (RFQC).

GTA is seeking a single contractor to provide the following services data sharing, development and maintenance of GTA's portfolio of applications, and tools to help state agencies deliver online services and information to citizens and businesses.

In addition, the winning vendor will also work with GTA to identify ways to move the state's web portal to a self-supporting financial model.

The pre-qualified vendors are the only vendors authorized to bid on the RFP, proposals will not be solicited from the general public on the State Procurement Registry. Responses to the RFP are due September 2.

There has been some buzz lately around a few of California's large strategic sourcing contracts that are to expire in September and rightfully so--these are huge deals. However, there are some renewals available, so what is the potential opportunity here? This is what we know:

IT Hardware - Enterprise Contracts (Storage)

• 7 contracts set to expire on 9/25/2008
• 2007 purchases: Approximately $12.3 million for all 7 contracts
• There are 2 optional renewals available

The Skinny:

We know that general practice is to renew but the contract administrator tells us that there is a work team in place that is evaluating the option of going out to bid. A clause will be put into the renewal contract allowing the state to opt out within 30 days of notice--if the option is chosen, we should expect to see a bid opportunity in the next several months.

IT Hardware - Enterprise Contracts (UNIX-based Servers)

• 3 contracts set to expire on 9/25/2008
• 1 contract set to expire on 9/27/2008
• 2007 purchases: Approximately $11.3 million for 4 contracts
• There are 2 optional renewals available

The Skinny:

There is no work team is in place; the contract administrator indicates that these contracts will be renewed.

As we hear more we'll keep you updated and add any opportunities to Navigator.

I wanted to take a moment to give you all a quick update on the budget.  We have been watching this closely and here are a few bullets that are based on facts rather than media speculation:

*First of all, let's take a look at how big this pot of money is.  The estimated spending from all sources (general funds, federal funds and other state funds such as bonds for FY 2007 was approximately $1.46 trillion.  That is a huge amount of total dollars in this sector.

Now, let's look at some 2008/2009 projections.

*The projected increase in overall tax collections for all states combined from FY 2008 to    FY 2009 is 4.4%. 

*There is a 1% general fund spending increase overall in the governor's recommended budgets.

*32 states project positive budget growth.

Even states with budget problems that I have recently talked with have a huge amount of technology projects and new procurements going on.  I hope this helps.

 

*Source:  Fiscal Survey of the States by the NGA and NASBO