[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6287395,"mediaKeyId","2553409-1076869a7f6796f31780519edfe6e6d8","parentId",2553409,"title","OIT brief: cloud migration praised, $25M in aging IT assets flagged and Microsoft Copilot pilot proposed","audioSeconds",4345,"startMs",3283000,"endMs",7628000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2553409-1076869a7f6796f31780519edfe6e6d8&start=3283&end=7628","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2553409-1076869a7f6796f31780519edfe6e6d8/thumbnail_3283000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6287395/Alaska/OIT-brief-cloud-migration-praised-25M-in-aging-IT-assets-flagged-and-Microsoft-Copilot-pilot-proposed","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6287395-797828219b7bde1bcc9ba723a7a11cd9/orig.mp4?Expires=1770673988&Signature=eMOwN5p~yin~QROUnOICcXKLIx5S5sjFb-R2eLJBg8AylHhcn9Q~Bdd6VOVdjdUz~ZCoL13-o3YRkh-4~VakNOq2aHUzMfTq-RxniyAUqTJGwvhJZXfZ7V5RHrG6aCKhxBROZRJKWSvDn2DQ450sd3tV5YVBzlrG4zh8YbGhYrcVeC7adCNDAeO0~XcKqUVTdKwXTvtOOmLXz58lCPgAnzIXMP7gFLxq5nY8Koe07Nljw1kb8mm0ybEpP-~~k6pcE6e8sA9fBq6~Y2sdQRdSm1GGu-03VBTkfcnT1gS2VMXq1t9nkotvNjvCspr1AhwQAiXkxQf4WPiTW0g4H1z18g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Alaska Legislature","date","2025-03-10T00:00:00Z","article","Bill Smith, chief information officer and Division Director for the Office of Information Technology, told the Senate Finance Subcommittee the state has completed a large cloud migration and that the move improved resilience and access to modern tools, but the office is tracking an estimated $25 million in IT assets that will need replacement over the next five years.

Smith told the panel the rapid cloud migration finished in May of last year and was recognized externally; he said the migration yields better redundancy for many services and creates a platform for newer cloud‑native development. He said the state is also moving mainframe workloads to a cloud mainframe provider (work scheduled for completion near the end of the calendar year) and that Oracle database migrations the office hosted are complete.

On cybersecurity, Smith described the state’s 24x7 managed security operations capability and said enterprise detection is being updated this year. \"In 2024, we recorded about a little over 4,000,000,000 network attacks blocked, per month,\" Smith told senators to illustrate the scale of automated scanning and attack traffic. He said the number of declared critical incidents has fallen year over year while overall alerts have increased, and that the Office of Information Technology has authority to isolate or \"pull the plug\" on compromised systems when necessary. \"We do have the authority to pull the plug,\" Smith said, adding that the managed security operations center is authorized to take containment steps in certain high‑severity instances and contact agencies afterward.

Smith described budget pressures driven by multi‑year contract renewals and increased consumption of enterprise services, and said licensing and hosting costs are rising because of inflation and higher usage. He said OIT is actively working to control costs by negotiating contracts, re‑scoping service levels and using cloud cost optimization techniques. Smith told senators the office has a cloud cost optimization lead and is working to make cloud spend more efficient as more applications move to cloud‑native architectures.

On staffing, Smith said recent efforts to modernize job descriptions and recruit at job fairs have improved hiring; he noted remaining challenges in highly competitive specialties such as cybersecurity. He said a statewide IT job modernization effort has been completed and that salary modernization could help recruiting but he had no implementation timeline to report to the committee.

Smith noted operational issues raised by senators: the Alvin DMV system has slow performance at times and OIT and DMV staff formed a tiger team that ruled out network congestion and identified some external integrations causing data dumps at peak times; improvements have been made but replacement is the long‑term fix. He also described Juneau fiber outages and said the cloud migration reduced the number of state services that would be disrupted by such physical cuts, though full duplication across every remote circuit is cost‑prohibitive.

On AI, Smith said the state is focused on end‑user and developer tools rather than building large custom language models. He described Microsoft Copilot (government cloud) as an end‑user feature layered on existing Microsoft 365 services and outlined a near‑term request to pilot Copilot with a centrally funded pool of licenses. The request would fund about 2,000 initial Copilot licenses and training to pilot efficiencies across departments; Smith said departments also identified developer‑level AI proofs of concept that would require seed funding and partner support to build prototypes. He said privately hosted AI tools within the state cloud will be used where data sensitivity requires it and emphasized human oversight and policy guidance for AI use.

Smith listed several near‑term technical projects: replacing the enterprise network detection and response platform this calendar year, implementing mobile device management for state phones and tablets (recently completed), continuing the mainframe transition, and work to better inventory and prioritize application modernization. He said OIT is working with the Office of Management and Budget to surface the multi‑year asset‑replacement need and expects to brief the Legislature as planning progresses.

No committee votes or formal actions were taken during the presentation; senators asked for follow‑up briefings on cost estimates for asset replacement, details on Copilot pilots, and updates on Alvin performance improvements and redundancy planning.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","03/10/2025 05:15 PM Senate ADMINISTRATION","oneSentenceSummary","Chief Information Officer Bill Smith told the Senate Finance Subcommittee the state completed a rapid cloud migration, is pursuing mainframe and database moves, faces roughly $25 million in asset replacements over five years, and is requesting seed funding for a Microsoft Copilot pilot and several AI proofs of concept.","taxTitle","2025 Legislature Alaska, Alaska","taxId",78559,"location","Alaska","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6287400,"Retirement division says late payroll backlog is being caught up; will use DOL calculator to compute interest owed",2820,469000,3289000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2553409-1076869a7f6796f31780519edfe6e6d8&start=469&end=3289","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2553409-1076869a7f6796f31780519edfe6e6d8/thumbnail_469000.jpg","/articles/6287400/Alaska/Retirement-division-says-late-payroll-backlog-is-being-caught-up-will-use-DOL-calculator-to-compute-interest-owed","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6287400-ce61370f013ae467515f771e50eafddf/orig.mp4?Expires=1770673988&Signature=k-4YXra622OEq2mW4kyX-O3z17zSIwqNi-vKQd3XEjVUptEflb67BE18NEOXmfFTTsbdM~frr50zIZJRvFchP09Nhj98I4tlkw2ydQRI~8VDX6xncjJMdTxTAjLq6CDGWZUpaQ5wQbZ1ZyqtKfF4UVoCnBvargpSZbLbDgyJJ7xvMeissgGE0Qbk~h2G6tYHrVJUQ5MKg4tIOa45jhWhC5BBwRjthH0halecdfc8xAJVzy6kVhlB--nDVHlbkajzqdWL4gHt5KxjIBEwNNGoaRX7WoJHbcYl9OCjU0MTaYFp0w7SJ0pM00fhwtzbyKiqHsim2G2-6q37dOeGRenpdg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","At a meeting of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on the Department of Administration budget, Division of Retirement and Benefits Director Kathy Lee told senators the division is working to catch up after a November server incident that delayed employer payroll reporting and will use the U.S. Department of Labor interest calculator to make affected employees whole.

The matter matters because the delayed reports left employee retirement contributions unposted for several months and the division must calculate and post interest so members’ defined contribution accounts reflect the investment gains or losses they would have experienced if contributions had been posted on time. Lee said the division is preparing an appropriation request to cover the cost and expects to submit that request to the Office of Management and Budget soon.

Lee told senators the division has 131 positions and a current vacancy rate of about 5 percent and that staffing has improved after a reorganization and hiring and retention incentives, including a $4,000 hiring incentive with staged payments. She said the division restored routine processing times, returning to a four- to six‑week timeframe for completed retirement applications.

Lee described the November incident as an intrusion attempt that was stopped by the Office of Information Technology; she said there was no data breach but two servers had to be rebuilt and the division moved systems to the state cloud. One reporting tool used by political subdivisions and school districts required extensive reprogramming because it was written in an old Java version; that tool returned to service in mid‑February and employers were onboarded by March 7. Payroll supervisor Tracy Walter told the subcommittee the division has 57 employers on that reporting system, eight are fully caught up and roughly 40 remain to be fully current. Walter said employers report on different pay cycles, so catch‑up speed varies by employer.

On interest calculations, Lee said the division worked with law firm Ice Miller and recordkeeper Empower to choose a method permitted by IRS rules for tax‑qualified governmental plans. \"Our decision was to go with the DOL calculator because we would be able to get the interest calculated more quickly and into the participants' accounts for investment more quickly,\" Lee said. She explained the IRS accepts two methods: individual participant calculations of actual gains/losses, which is time‑consuming, or the Department of Labor (DOL) formula that applies a standard rate; the division selected the DOL method to speed payments. Lee also said the state statutes governing interest do not provide the division authority to unilaterally pay interest under state law and the division had to wait the federal 90‑day window before determining whether to make interest payments under federal guidance.

Lee said she expects to have a final cost estimate in May after all employers finish submitting back payrolls and that a formal appropriation request was being prepared with OMB. She asked the subcommittee to allow the division to publish a status spreadsheet on its website so members can see which employers are caught up and to encourage members to verify deposits in their Empower accounts.

The division also reported on major operational projects. Lee said the Benefits and Retirement System (BEARS) replacement is in user acceptance testing; testers have found defects requiring retesting and the division is tracking fixes with the vendor. Lee said the goal remains a fall 2025 go‑live but timing depends on how quickly tested defects are resolved. She told the subcommittee a vendor proposal for hosting, licensing and ongoing enhancements had been received at about $3,000,000 per year but negotiations were not complete.

On retiree and employee health plan administration, Chief Health Administrator Steve Ramos described recent program changes the AlaskaCare plan has implemented, including a virtual physical‑therapy program (Hinge Health), a surgical provider-of-excellence program (Lantern) with enhanced travel benefits, expanded first‑dollar coverage for breast imaging in retiree plans, and limited acupuncture coverage for specified diagnoses. Ramos said a pharmacy market check produced roughly $10.7 million in favorable pricing for the plans and that a future pharmacy RFP could yield 5–10 percent better pricing annually. He also reported network changes that increased Alaska‑based provider participation to more than 5,600 providers in the AlaskaCare network.

Lee and staff said communications to affected members were initially slow while the division awaited clarity about interest payment authority. The division plans non‑personalized letters routed to employers and an online status spreadsheet; it noted it lacks direct email addresses for many political‑subdivision employees and would rely on employers for distribution unless the division chooses to mail personalized notices at additional cost. The division also plans social‑media and website postings directing members to empower account checks.

The hearing record shows senators pressed for status updates and progress reports; Lee offered to provide the subcommittee with a follow‑up progress report on the employer payroll backlog. No formal motions or votes were taken on the item at the meeting.","Division of Retirement and Benefits told a Senate Finance Subcommittee it is catching up on late employer payroll reporting after a November server incident, will compute interest owed to members using the U.S. Department of Labor calculator and expects to submit an appropriation request after employers finish resubmitting payrolls.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

OIT brief: cloud migration praised, $25M in aging IT assets flagged and Microsoft Copilot pilot proposed

Retirement division says late payroll backlog is being caught up; will use DOL calculator to compute interest owed