SD3 - Review of Information Technology in Virginia State Government


Executive Summary:
The State has a sizeable investment in information technology. The State's information technology budget (which includes data processing personnel and equipment purchases in all agencies) more than quadrupled between 1976 and 1986, from $87.7 million to $383.5 million. The escalating budget trend is likely to continue even as the costs of computer and telecommunications technologies decrease agencies that previously could not afford to automate will do so, and other agencies will greatly expand their use. Including telecommunications budgets, the total anticipated expenditures for information technology will equal one-half billion dollars for the FY 1986-88 biennium.

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) was created with the merger of the Department of Computer Services (DCS) and the Department of Management Analysis and Systems Development (MASD) on September 1, 1984. The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was merged with DIT on January 1, 1985. Consolidation of these three "high technology" service agencies focused planning, budgeting, acquisition, development, operation, and management of information processing and communications within a single agency. DIT's expenditures in fiscal year 1986 were approximately $78 million - approximately one-third of State agencies' total expenditures for information technology.

Study Mandate

DIT is primarily an internal service fund agency, recovering 89 percent of its revenues through charges for telecommunications, systems development, and computer services. JLARC is required by § 2.1-196.1 of the Code of Virginia to oversee State internal service funds.

The Commission directed JLARC staff to review the performance of DIT. The study was conducted in cooperation with the Department of Planning and Budget (DPB), staff for the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, and the Auditor of Public Accounts. DPB set aside funds to pay for consulting assistance. JLARC staff were assisted by the consulting firm of Ernst & Whinney (E&W) in evaluating DIT.

The study assessed the extent to which DIT was achieving the reorganizational goals set forth for the consolidated agency. These included effective and efficient delivery of services, staffing economies, integration of related technologies, timely and simplified procurement processes, and facilitation of State planning for information resource management.