Amended in Senate June 25, 2014

Amended in Senate June 23, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 21, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 2523


Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

February 21, 2014


An act 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 statebegin delete government.end deletebegin insert government, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2523, as amended, Cooley. Department of Technology.

Existing law establishes 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 require the Director of Technology to review a specified manual and draft a report based on that manual and other specified factors, to be transmitted to certain legislative committees on or before July 1, 2016, that recommends 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. This bill would require the director, afterbegin delete reviewing the manual and draftingend deletebegin insert transmittingend insert the report, to establish a unit, within the Department of Technology, of consulting information technology experts to serve as support for state agencies. This bill would make legislative findings in this regard.

begin insert

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

end insert

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes.

Vote: begin deletemajority end deletebegin insert23end insert. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) The state has identified the management of large technology
4projects as high risk for the last several decades.

5(b) Large technology projects may take years to develop and,
6similar to issues with a recent technology project for the
7Department of Employment Development, the implementation of
8a project, from conception through implementation, can span
9multiple gubernatorial administrations and include a change in
10senior managers, retirements, and career moves that affect the
11project.

12(c) To address these issues, the state has steadily worked to
13 improve its organizational and institutional capacity to manage
14large technology programs. This effort is vital, because at the
15present time, there are over 100 identified information technology
16projects in progress throughout state government in various phases
17of progress and completion.

18(d) An important milestone in this ongoing effort was the July
192013 issuance of the California Project Management Methodology
20Reference Manual completed by the Director of Technology, also
21known as the State Chief Information Officer. The manual breaks
22large information technology projects into the phases of initial
23concept, initiating, planning, executing, and closing. The manual
24emphasizes that the critical role throughout these phases is with
25the attendant management duties of monitoring and controlling to
P3    1ensure the project is advancing in accordance with budget and
2outcome expectations. The manual highlights the critical role of
3the project management team, which includes the distinct roles of
4the executive sponsor, project steering committees, project director,
5and project manager.

6(e) The difficulty of maintaining continuity among senior project
7leadership is highlighted by the experience of a recent technology
8project for the Department of Employment Development, which
9began under Governor Davis, continued under Governor
10Schwarzenegger, and is now being implemented under Governor
11Brown. In addition, testimony before the Assembly Committee on
12Insurance oversight hearing made clear the project has lost key
13personnel during the project course to retirement and career
14transfer.

15(f) The state would benefit from the development of a senior
16cadre of information technology consultative expertise in the
17Department of Technology who can serve as technology advisors
18to executive sponsors and other senior level persons charged with
19 project implementation throughout state government.

20

SEC. 2.  

The heading of Chapter 5.6 (commencing with Section
2111545) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code
22 is amended to read:

23 

24Chapter  5.6. Department of Technology
25

 

26

SEC. 3.  

Section 11547.5 is added to the Government Code, to
27read:

begin delete
28

11547.5.  

(a) The Director of Technology shall establish a unit,
29within the Department of Technology, of consulting information
30technology experts to serve as support for state agencies.

31(b) Prior to establishing the unit described in subdivision (a),

end delete
32begin insert

begin insert11547.5.end insert  

end insert

begin insert(a)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertOn or before July 1, 2016, end insertthe Director of
33Technology shallbegin delete review the California Project Management
34Methodology Reference Manual and draft a report, based on the
35manual,end delete
begin insert transmit a report, pursuant to subdivision (b),end insert
36 recommending how a team of senior consulting information
37technology experts could be developed to serve as support for state
38agencies and senior project team members in state government to
39support their exercise of leadership, monitoring, control, and
40direction over information technology projects to minimize risks
P4    1of those projects being completed improperly and over budget. In
2begin delete draftingend deletebegin insert preparingend insert thebegin delete recommendations,end deletebegin insert report,end insert the Director of
3Technology shallbegin insert review the California Project Management
4Methodology Reference Manual. The report shall be based on the
5review of that manual and shallend insert
also consider how a team of senior
6consulting advisors can assist senior executives charged with
7oversight of major information technology projects in terms of the
8challenges arising from all of the following:

9(1) Governance.

10(2) Development and management of contracts.

11(3) Testing.

12(4) Organizational change management.

13(5) Data conversion and migration.

14(6) Schedule development and management.

15(7) Evaluation and possible pitfalls of seeking value for
16taxpayers by re-engineering state systems and procedures.

17(8) Risk and issue identification and management.

18(9) Interface identification and management.

19(10) Quality assurance and quality control.

20(11) Requirements definition and management.

21(12) Architecture.

22(13)  Roll-out planning and approach.

begin delete

23(c) On or before July 1, 2016, the Director of Technology shall
24transmit the report completed pursuant to subdivision (b) to all

end delete

25begin insert(b)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertThe report shall be transmitted to allend insert legislative committees
26with jurisdiction over state information technology, including, but
27not limited to, the Assembly Committee on Accountability and
28Administrative Review, in compliance with Section 9795.

begin insert

29(c) After transmitting the report pursuant to subdivision (b), the
30Director of Technology shall establish a unit, within the
31Department of Technology, of consulting information technology
32experts to serve as support for state agencies.

end insert
33begin insert

begin insertSEC. 4.end insert  

end insert
begin insert

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
34immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
35the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
36immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

end insert
begin insert

37To facilitate early support for ongoing technology projects, it
38is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.

end insert


O

    96