California to Spend $3.6 Billion for State IT

The Golden State is about to drop almost $4 billion on IT in 2009.

Despite being over $40 billion in debt, the state of California is about to spend billions more on its IT infrastructure. In 2009, the Golden State will initiate nine separate projects with budgets totaling $3.6 billion, and time frames ranging from three to twelve years.

According to Information Week, The IT projects range from an automated welfare system to a new HR system to "consolidating" IT structure. The largest project will be an overhaul of the state's financial system, which will take nearly 12 years to complete and have its own preliminary budget of $1.6 billion.

"As California faces an unprecedented budget crisis, aging infrastructure and a growing population, we have a unique opportunity to use technology to our advantage as we overcome the monumental challenges we face," said California's CIO Teri Takai. "By creating a more consolidated IT organization, we can better manage our equipment, personnel, and purchasing while optimizing the use of technology and ultimately providing more services for the people of California."

Let's face it, the government, whether it's on a local, state or federal level, is not exactly known for completing projects on time or on the initially proposed budget. Also, with California's IT budget already at $3 billion a year, is this $1.6 billion super project really going to help the Golden State? Another IT project of this magnitude was the FBI's tech overhaul several years back, and that didn't end pretty.

The CIO's post on Capitol Weekly is full of good intentions...but will it work? Takai is planning these nine projects while simultaneously touting that she can save the IT dept. $300 million a year without any sort of personnel cuts. Also, as IW's Bob Evans points out, California may not even be sure how many IT employees it actually has. The estimation by govtech sits at eight to ten thousand.