Colorado’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) described its “real‑time billing” approach and defended recent fund balances during a June 11 briefing to the Joint Technology Committee, while legislative staff and members pressed OIT for clearer forecasting and faster adjustments.

“OIT’s goal is to have a cost‑reimbursement approach,” said Alex Montz, OIT chief financial officer, who walked members through the year‑round process used to set and adjust rates. Montz described service strategy, a March rates-and-services review, agency utilization planning in June–July and a November 1 submission to the Office of State Planning and Budgeting as the main steps in producing OIT’s budget request.

Why this matters: OIT’s IT revolving fund grew faster than staff expected. Montz said the fund will start fiscal 2026 “above its fund balance cap” and that OIT expects to return excess money through the FY26 supplemental budget process. Committee members pushed for faster corrections and more transparency about how the office sets rates and what caused the overcollection.

How the billing model works: OIT said its real‑time billing system was adopted after a joint study recommended moving away from a one‑twelfth, static allocation model. Under the new approach the agency publishes services, sets base rates after the rates-and-services board reviews them, and bills agencies monthly for actual usage. Agencies then include those projected payments in their payments‑to‑OIT line during the regular budget cycle.

Committee concerns: Representative Pascal and others said the state had effectively appropriated agency money that was then captured into the revolving fund and left idle. Montz and other OIT officials acknowledged the office must improve projections. “It is my hope…you won't see these types of overcollections in the future,” Montz said, adding that OIT submitted a real‑time billing supplemental and will use the supplemental process to reduce the balance.

Numbers and controls discussed: officials described the Technology Risk Prevention and Response (TRPR) fund (a separate cash fund with a $50 million cap) and said typical TRPR projects have been relatively small, targeted fixes for failing infrastructure. OIT also said interest on the large revolving‑fund balance was modest (Montz estimated interest under $100,000 for FY25 despite a large balance) and that the fund includes a mix of capital construction, cash and federal funding, not only general fund dollars.

Next steps: OIT committed to improve forecasting and to work more closely with the rates and services board and agency IT directors. Committee members asked OIT to return specific baseline metrics—how long intake and solutioning currently take under the new model and historical comparisons—so the committee can assess whether agencies are being over‑billed or simply under‑served.

Ending: The committee asked staff to provide follow‑up data on the revolving fund and TRPR expenditures and considered an executive‑session review of TRPR projects to see redacted security details that cannot be placed in public documents.