Overhaul of State Technology Office Urged

The bureaucracy that oversees more than $1 billion annually in state computer purchasing and use must be revamped to prevent more waste and mistakes, says the state’s independent auditor.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s Administration defended its oversight of computers but agreed to review state management of information technology, essentially computer use and purchases.

Auditor Kurt Sjoberg reported this week that his office found so many management deficiencies that “the state must re-engineer the entire statewide information technology program to ensure that the state’s interests and assets are protected and used to their maximum potential.”

The Office of Information Technology “has not provided the statewide leadership and coordination for information technology as intended by the 1983 legislation that established the office,” Sjoberg said.

Virtually every state department has its own computer system, but there is no standardized statewide electronic mail system, according to the audit. Two data centers serve several agencies but operate independently, without overall coordination.

The Office of Information Technology, part of the state Finance Department, also has failed to oversee agencies’ computer system development and installation, the audit says.

Shortcomings stem from the office’s narrow interpretation of its responsibilities and a lack of funding, according to the audit.

Sjoberg cited several computer problems that raised questions about the technology office’s effectiveness.

The Department of Motor Vehicles, for example, canceled a database redevelopment project earlier this year because of deficiencies after spending more than $49 million.

“Several of the state’s major information technology projects currently under development have experienced significant schedule delays and cost increases, indicating that there may be more trouble in the future,” Sjoberg said.

For example, the audit says, the cost of a Department of Corrections computer system has more than doubled, from $55 million in January, 1992, to $118 million by August of this year, as it was developed and installed.