OMB requests $40M deferred-maintenance pool, $1.1M to finish procurement automation and funds to reconfigure Capitol space

The Office of Management and Budget asked the Senate Government Operations Committee on Feb. 12 to approve a series of budget items that OMB said would centralize services, reduce long-term costs and address deteriorating state facilities.

Joe Morissette, representing OMB, told the committee that the agency’s top requests for the 2025–27 biennium include a $40 million deferred-maintenance pool, $1.1 million to complete a procurement automation project and $6 million to reconfigure space and cover rent and moving costs for agencies needing different facilities.

“Our mission is to provide leadership and support to state government,” Morissette said. He summarized OMB’s five divisions — shared services, facility management, fiscal management, risk management and human resource management — and described the agency’s role as fiscal agent for several pass-through programs.

Why it matters: OMB said much of its appropriation covers one-time, statewide pools that the agency manages and distributes. The deferred-maintenance request is aimed at high-priority building repairs such as roofs, windows and mechanical systems that OMB’s consultant ranked as “immediate priority” needs. Morissette said the consultant identified roughly $62 million in immediate-priority work and OMB is asking to allocate $40 million to make meaningful progress.

Key requests and details

- Deferred maintenance: OMB asked for $40,000,000. Morissette said consultant data show more than $62,000,000 in facilities that fall into the highest-priority category. Items cited for the Capitol Complex included the Liberty Memorial Building roof, additional boiler work in the Capitol, window replacement (an additional $4.1 million request after preliminary estimates increased) and kitchen equipment and HVAC replacements.

- Procurement automation: OMB requested $1,100,000 to finish a multiyear procurement automation project. Morissette said $515,000 is a one-time implementation/training cost and $615,000 is an ongoing subscription/maintenance cost once the system goes live. He said the project includes universities and will simplify bidding for vendors and agencies.

- Space reconfiguration and moves: OMB asked for $2.5 million to reconfigure office floors (about $500,000 per floor in Morissette’s estimate) and $3.5 million for rent and moving costs, plus an expected carryover of roughly $1.7 million from the current biennium. The House combined similar requests into a $2 million pool; OMB asked the Senate to restore the larger amount to address agencies that have outgrown or need better on-site accommodations.

- Capitol Grounds contingency and visitor experience: OMB proposed a $500,000 pool for unforeseen repairs on the Capitol Grounds to be funded from the Capital Building Trust Fund, plus $3 million to improve visitor wayfinding, signage, tree management and the 18th-floor public space. Morissette said the Trust Fund is managed by the Department of Trust Lands and that the Capital Grounds Planning Commission can spend up to $250,000 per biennium without separate appropriation.

- Staffing and operating items: OMB reported 110 authorized positions with 103 filled and seven vacancies (all special-funded at the time of the December 1 report). Specific personnel requests include a systems mechanic for the new State Lab’s HVAC, one communications position repurposed to a shared communications role, and a procurement officer to support the enterprise procurement system (OMB said it has FTE authority and requested general fund dollars to fund two repurposed positions). Morissette also described a restored FTE pool line and routine salary-step funding items.

- Other program asks: OMB requested $500,000 to continue its student internship cost-share program; $550,000 for a mobile-friendly recruiting system that integrates with PeopleSoft; and operating increases, notably for PeopleSoft support and utilities tied to the new State Lab building.

Committee questions and clarifications

Senators pressed Morissette on procurement thresholds, remote-work impacts on space needs and the Capital Building Trust Fund. Morissette clarified a procurement-threshold change taking effect July 1: purchases under $10,000 can be made directly; purchases between $10,000 and $100,000 require documented price shopping (three estimates) rather than a formal RFP. He said the procurement automation pilot is in final testing and is expected to go live in May.

Morissette said the Capital Building Trust Fund held about $6 million before the requests and that, depending on final appropriations, roughly $2 million would remain after the proposed allocations. He described a recently authorized construction manager and a state leasing manager as new positions intended to bring consistent project and lease expertise to agencies lacking that experience.

What OMB did not decide here

No formal votes or spending decisions were made at this hearing. Morissette’s presentation produced follow-up questions about detailed line items; OMB said staff would provide more exact figures (for example, the final cost of window replacement and the exact incentive-payment total tied to the optional retirement-plan transition once employee elections close in late March).

Ending

OMB officials said they would remain available for follow-up as the committee works through line items. Several requests were already included in the House budget; Morissette noted which items the House included and which remain for the Senate to consider.