Section 3: Powers and duties
Section 3. (a) The office shall have all powers necessary or convenient to carry out its duties including, but not limited to, the power to:
(i) establish bureaus and other functional units within the office and hire employees;
(ii) as needed, require the consolidation of IT functions into a centralized service delivery model as determined by the executive office of technology services and security;
(iii) oversee, coordinate with and provide assistance, advice, and expertise in connection with business relationships between state agencies and private sector providers of information technology;
(iv) eliminate, where appropriate, duplication of duties and functions among IT personnel within state agencies;
(v) monitor trends and advances in information technology resources;
(vi) oversee and supervise the maintenance of information technology and the initiation of information technology updates or projects for state agencies;
(vii) initiate procurements of information technology resources for state agencies and enter into agreements or contracts in connection with such procurement on behalf of a state agency or other political subdivision of the commonwealth;
(viii) set policy regarding all procurements of information technology resources;
(ix) review and approve the information technology budget requests of a state agency and IT spending priorities of executive offices and agencies within any executive office;
(x) implement standards for product or service specifications, characteristics or performance requirements of IT resources that increase efficiency and improve security and identify opportunities for cost savings within state agencies based on such standardization; specifically, the office may implement the following: (a) the centralized acquisition and standardization of specifications for desktop computing equipment; (b) consolidation and centralized management of all network resources for the executive department; (c) the consolidation of information technology infrastructure; and (d) following consultation with the secretary of the executive office and the head of the agency or department within the executive offices, effectuate the centralization of other IT services and functions when centralization or standardization will promote greater security, improve service, or reduce costs;
(xi) establish special requirements for vendors of IT services to state agencies;
(xii) adapt standards as necessary for individual agencies to comply with federal law; and
(xiii) maintain a page on the commonwealth's official website, open to the public through the Massachusetts open data portal, providing data, as transmitted by the department of criminal justice information services pursuant to subsection (i) of section 167A of chapter 6, concerning arrests; provided, however, that categories of data which constitute personally identifiable information shall not be posted or made available to the public.
(b) The office may issue administrative directives pursuant to the authority set forth in this chapter, which shall be binding on all executive department agencies and offices.