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Subcommittees Review DPHHS Information‑Technology Projects in House Bill 10, Including IV&V Requirements and EHR Timeline
Summary
State CIO and DPHHS officials described long‑range IT requests in House Bill 10, citing federal independent verification and validation (IV&V) requirements for child welfare and child support systems and a planned electronic health record rollout for state facilities.
State information‑technology officials and Department of Public Health and Human Services staff briefed joint subcommittees B and F on House Bill 10 requests that aim to modernize systems used for child welfare, child support, public benefits and state facility clinical records.
The state chief information officer, Kevin Gilbertson, framed the bill’s goals as cybersecurity improvements, digital transformation, customer‑service enhancements and technical‑debt relief. DPHHS CIO Carrie Albro and other agency staff provided project‑level detail and federal compliance context.
Key points - IV&V (independent verification and validation): agency staff said the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requires IV&V oversight for large child‑welfare and child‑support system replacements. DPHHS officials told the committee IV&V is needed for federal certification and to secure federal financial participation; Kim Aiken (DPHHS) said CCWIS (the child‑welfare information system) typically receives enhanced federal match and that an approximately 34% state / 66% federal split is expected for CCWIS development work.
- Child support and CCWIS: committee documents show prior appropriations (about $31.5 million) for a new child‑support system; DPHHS said additional IV&V services are now required by federal partners and were not fully anticipated in the earlier project planning. Agency staff described IV&V costs as professional services distinct from the capital or configuration contract and noted IV&V is a precondition for some federal approvals.
- Electronic health record (EHR) for state facilities: Carrie Albro said that, “assuming our contracting completes in February, we will be kicking off the first project… The implementation based on the statement of work will be roughly a 9 month implementation with a 3 months month stabilization period. … The total project will be done, beginning to end in 36 months.” The department plans to onboard Montana State Hospital and the Montana Chemical Dependency Center as the first facilities.
- Other modernization efforts: the packet included modular health‑care services, public‑benefit modernization, secure data connections and other projects intended to reduce technical debt. Gilbertson and legislators discussed procurement strategy and budgeting: several lawmakers said vendor bids historically track budgeted amounts and suggested exploring bundling or prioritized pools of projects to improve competition and pricing.
- Cancellations and offsets: DPHHS said one SNAP modernization request was canceled because functionality was obtained under a contract with a vendor (Maximus). Officials said they would provide updated obligations and a current snapshot of project status to the committees.
Committee follow‑up: members asked for updated, reconciled project lists showing funding sources, federal/state splits and obligations to date. Gilbertson said staff were preparing updated materials for the committees. No committee votes were held during the hearing.
Ending: House Bill 10 was closed after committee questions; the subcommittees scheduled more detailed technology briefings and follow‑up materials for later sessions.
