Budget Amendment ID: FY2015-S4-197

GOV 197

Information-technology management enhancement II

Ms. Creem moved that the proposed new text be amended moved that the bill be amended inserting, after section __, the following new section:-

SECTION __. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, not later than 60 days after an agency first enters into a new agreement with a private-sector vendor of $20,000,000 or more for information technology services funded by this act, the information technology division and the agency shall file a report with the house of representatives and senate committees on bonding, capital expenditures, and state assets, and the house of representatives and senate committees on ways and means, detailing the procurement practices followed for that agreement and the degree to which those practices adopted or deviated from the recommendations of the senate committee on post audit and oversight in its April 2014 report on information technology.  Executive agencies that have or seek funding for any such agreement shall submit to the information technology division, at intervals to be determined by the division, documentation and deliverables necessary to enable it to oversee, ascertain and evaluate financial and non-financial benefits to be realized by performing the project, impacts to current and future operating budgets, and project management, status, progress, performance and expenditures. The information technology division shall specify this documentation and deliverables, which may include, without limitation, project return-on-investment calculations, project management plans and methodology, technology designs and specifications, accountings of amounts expended or to be expended for all goods and services including, without limitation, hardware, software, consultant services and personnel, ongoing operating cost impacts, an assessment of whether the project is within budget and on schedule for completion, an explanation of any deviations in completion schedules and funding needs from those that were originally established for the projects, project plans and other document deliverables. The information technology division may make funding or continued funding for executive department agency projects contingent upon its approval of these documentation and deliverables and shall have the authority, after consultation by the chief information officer of the Commonwealth with the agency conducting an information technology project, to terminate an ongoing information technology project that the chief information officer has determined is not likely to successfully meet project goals within a reasonable time and cost.

For any information technology project in excess of an amount determined by the chief information officer of the Commonwealth at the beginning of each fiscal year, the agency conducting the IT project shall be required, no longer than the time that the vendor commences work on the project, to retain the services of an independent verification and validation consultant who will have the responsibility to ensure that the product is structurally sound and built to the required specifications.