BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2523 (Cooley) - Department of Technology.
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: GO 7-1
Urgency: Yes Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2523 would require the Department of Technology
(DOT) to review a specified state project management manual and
report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016 on how a team of
information technology (IT) experts could be established to
support state agencies in developing IT projects, considering
specified challenges. After submitting the report, the bill
would require DOT to establish a unit of consulting IT experts
to support state agencies.
Fiscal Impact:
Minor and absorbable costs to the DOT to review the
California Project Management Methodology Reference Manual
and report to the Legislature. (Technology Services
Revolving Fund)
DOT indicates that there would be no new costs to the
department to establish a unit of consulting IT experts
because the Consulting and Planning Division within DOT
already serves the functions specified in the bill.
Background: Existing law establishes the DOT within the
Government Operations Agency as the successor entity of the
former Technology Agency, which was abolished as part of the
Governor's Reorganization Plan 2 (GRP2). DOT is comprised of
both the Office of Information Security and the Office of
Technology Services. DOT is responsible for the approval and
oversight of IT projects by consulting with state agencies
during initial project planning, among other things, to ensure
that proposals are based on well-defined programmatic needs and
benefits consistent with statewide strategies, policies, and
procedures.
AB 2523 (Cooley)
Page 1
The Consulting and Planning Division was established in 2013
under the Director of DOT's authority to provide oversight and
support of state agency IT projects. This entity includes the
Consulting Team and Statewide IT Strategic Planning. The
Consulting Section provides assistance at the executive level
for projects experiencing challenges, offering intensive
consulting services aimed at restoring project equilibrium, and
minimizing and mitigating risks hampering project success. The
Consulting Section is comprised of IT professionals charged with
resolving some of the most intricate challenges found in
projects, particularly in the areas of schedule development and
management, contract management and vendor negotiations, quality
assurance and quality control, risk and issue identification and
mitigation, data conversion and migration, testing, and planning
for system deployment and implementation.
The California Project Management Methodology Manual (Manual)
was issued by the Director of DOT in 2013. The Manual is
intended to assist agencies responsible for the implementation
of large IT projects by providing guidance for successful
implementation of those projects from initial concept, and
through project initiation, planning, execution, and closing.
The Manual focuses on the critical role of the project
management team.
Proposed Law: AB 2523 would require the Director of DOT, by
January 1, 2016 to review the Manual, and based on that review,
submit a report to the Legislature that considers how a team of
senior consulting IT advisors can assist senior department
executives charged with oversight of major IT projects in terms
of challenges arising from all of the following.
Governance.
Development and management of contracts.
Testing.
Organizational change management.
Data conversion and migration.
Schedule development and management.
Evaluation and possible pitfalls of seeking value for
taxpayers by re-engineering state systems and procedures.
Risk and issue identification and management.
Interface identification and management.
Quality assurance and quality control.
Requirements definition and management.
Architecture.
AB 2523 (Cooley)
Page 2
Roll-out planning and approach.
The bill would also require the Director of DOT, after
transmitting the report, to establish a unit within DOT of
consulting information technology experts to serve as support
for state agencies.
Staff Comments: This bill is an urgency statute, with the
following stated reason of necessity: "To facilitate early
support for ongoing technology projects." The true urgency of
the bill is unclear, however, considering the bill requires DOT
to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016, and
requires the establishment of a unit of consulting information
technology experts after transmitting the report to the
Legislature. It is unclear what public purpose is served by
having the bill go into immediate effect as opposed to the
January 1, 2015 effective date of a non-urgency statute. Staff
notes that the DOT indicates it has already established the
Consulting and Planning Division, which is intended to serve the
same purposes of those identified in the bill.
The Consulting and Planning Division was established in 2013
under the Director of DOT's statutory authority to provide
oversight and support of state agency IT projects. It operates
as a service provided for a fee charged to stage agencies. DOT
reports that it has already hired experts in a variety of 12
issue areas that are similar to the 13 identified in this bill.
The Director plans to add more positions as use of the Division
grows. Future positions would be supported by fee revenues paid
by state agencies that utilize its services. This bill would
appear to require DOT to establish a team of IT experts that
already exists in state government.