BILL NUMBER: AB 2523 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cooley
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to amend Section 11548.5 of, to amend
the heading of Chapter 5.6 (commencing with Section 11545) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of, and to add Section 11547.5 to, the
Government Code, relating to state government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2523, as amended, Cooley. Department of Technology.
Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2015, the Department of
Technology, within the Government Operations Agency, headed by the
Director of Technology, who is also known as the State Chief
Information Officer. The department is responsible for the approval
and oversight of information technology projects by, among other
things, consulting with agencies during initial project planning to
ensure that project proposals are based on well-defined programmatic
needs and consider feasible alternatives to address the identified
needs and benefits consistent with statewide strategies, policies,
and procedures.
This bill would extend the establishment of the
Department of Technology to January 1, 2020, and require
the Director of Technology, on or before July 1, 2016, to report
recommendations to the Legislature, as specified, on how a team of
senior consulting information technology experts could be developed
to serve as support for state agencies and senior project team
members in state government on information technology projects. This
bill would require the director to consider specified factors when
making those recommendations. This bill would make legislative
findings in this regard.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The state has identified the management of large technology
projects as high risk for the last several decades.
(b) Large technology projects may take years to develop and,
similar to issues with a recent technology project for the Department
of Employment Development, the implementation of a project, from
conception through implementation, can span multiple gubernatorial
administrations and include a change in senior managers, retirements,
and career moves that affect the project.
(c) To address these issues, the state has steadily worked to
improve its organizational and institutional capacity to manage large
technology programs. This effort is vital, because at the present
time, there over 100 identified information technology projects in
progress throughout state government in various phases of progress
and completion.
(d) An important milestone in this ongoing effort was the July
2013 issuance of the California Project Management Methodology
Reference Manual completed by the Director of Technology, also known
as the State Chief Information Officer. The manual breaks large
information technology projects into the phases of initial concept,
initiating, planning, executing, and closing. The manual emphasizes
that the critical role throughout these phases is with the attendant
management duties of monitoring and controlling to ensure the project
is advancing in accordance with budget and outcome expectations. The
manual highlights the critical role of the project management team,
which includes the distinct roles of the executive sponsor, project
steering committees, project director and project manager.
(e) The difficulty of maintaining continuity among senior project
leadership is highlighted by the experience of a recent technology
project for the Department of Employment Development, which began
under Governor Davis, continued under Governor Schwarzenegger, and is
now being implemented under Governor Brown. In addition, testimony
before the Assembly Committee on Insurance oversight hearing made
clear the project has lost key personnel during the project course to
retirement and career transfer.
(f) The state would benefit from the development of a senior cadre
of information technology consultative expertise in the Department
of Technology who can serve as technology advisors to executive
sponsors and other senior level persons charged with project
implementation throughout state government.
SEC. 2. The heading of Chapter 5.6 (commencing with Section 11545)
of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code is amended
to read:
CHAPTER 5.6. DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY
SEC. 3. Section 11547.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
11547.5. (a) The Director of Technology shall review the
California Project Management Methodology Reference Manual and draft
a report, based on the manual, recommending how a team of senior
consulting information technology experts could be developed to serve
as support for state agencies and senior project team members in
state government to support their exercise of leadership, monitoring,
control, and direction over information technology projects to
minimize risks of those projects being completed improperly and over
budget. In drafting the recommendations, the Director of Technology
shall also consider how a team of senior consulting advisors can
assist senior executives charged with oversight of major information
technology projects in terms of the challenges arising from all of
the following:
(1) Governance.
(2) Development and management of contracts.
(3) Testing.
(4) Organizational change management.
(5) Data conversion and migration.
(6) Schedule development and management.
(7) Evaluation and possible pitfalls of seeking value for
taxpayers by re-engineering state systems and procedures.
(8) Risk and issue identification and management.
(9) Interface identification and management.
(10) Quality assurance and quality control.
(11) Requirements definition and management.
(12) Architecture.
(13) Roll-out planning and approach.
(b) On or before July 1, 2016, the Director of Technology shall
transmit the report completed pursuant to subdivision (a) to all
legislative committees with jurisdiction over state information
technology, including, but not limited to, the Assembly Committee on
Accountability and Administrative Review, in compliance with Section
9795.
SEC. 4. Section 11548.5 of the Government Code
is amended to read:
11548.5. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.