CIPA tells JTC it serves more than 1,000 Colorado governments and reinvests fees into grant programs

Director Bogle told the Joint Technology Committee that CIPA serves more than 1,000 eligible Colorado governments and operates without funding from the general assembly, using administrative fees from procurement and payment processing to cover operations and to fund grants.

The presentation outlined CIPA’s three operational pillars — digital government services, professional services and licensing, and a new gov grants program — and emphasized the statutory authority CIPA cited: “section 2,437.7 dash 1 0 1,” which the presenter said enables state and local governments to contract through CIPA. Director Bogle said, “we are not here to ask for money. We are here to talk about how we are giving some of the money away.”

Why it matters: CIPA staff said the authority to aggregate procurement and negotiate master contracts allows local governments and special districts to access off‑the‑shelf technology and professional services more quickly and at lower cost. The office reported growth in contracting and quoting activity from 2022–24 while maintaining customer satisfaction scores, and described reinvesting surplus into multiple grant tracks to support accessibility and digital projects statewide.

Key details presented by CIPA included: the organization’s claim to serve over 1,000 governments across the state; a portfolio that covers municipal, county, K–12 and higher‑education customers and many special districts; nearly $10.7 million in grant programs through calendar year 2024; roughly 29 supplier partners; and three grant streams (microgrants under $10,000, a discretionary accessibility license program, and the larger gov grants program). Director Bogle said the gov grants program has issued about $9,000,000 in grant awards since its launch in 2024 and that the first two cycles produced 130 applications totaling about $58,000,000.

CIPA described specific program examples: an emergency rental assistance application developed for the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) that received more than 25,000 submissions and was deployed in under 60 days; assistance to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood Education (CDEC) to stand up a site, service desk and a two‑year comprehensive analysis; and distribution of approximately 4,100 free CommonLook PDF remediation licenses through a discretionary accessibility program. The presenter said the organization aims to treat the grants like an investment portfolio, measuring qualitative and quantitative outcomes to inform future funding.

Committee members asked about measurement and technology priorities. Representative Pascoe asked, “How do you determine return on investment?” Director Bogle replied that the program is early (round two) and CIPA intends to combine quantitative site metrics and qualitative attributes into an index: “I think the way that we look at this is not just quantitatively, but from a qualitative perspective.” Senator Baszler asked whether CIPA is seeing AI‑focused grant proposals; Director Bogle said, “We’re seeing some AI applications everywhere,” and added the office plans to standardize application data first before broadly applying analytic tools.

CIPA staff said outreach includes regional workshops, weekly webinars, and an annual user conference that drew about 450 attendees this year. The presenter invited committee members to regional workshops and said the organization plans to continue refining its grant portal and outcome metrics. Director Bogle added, “I’m excited to come back next year and show you what that looks like,” indicating an intent to return with further results and metrics.

Ending: Committee members praised the presentation and expressed interest in further details on metrics and outreach. CIPA staff asked for feedback and said it will continue statewide workshops and grant cycles while developing a metrics framework to evaluate grant outcomes.