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DOT tells appropriations panel it needs carryover to continue mainframe replacement and traffic IT projects
Summary
Department of Transportation Director Ron Henke told the House appropriations subcommittee the agency seeks to carry forward previously appropriated funds to continue a multi‑biennium IT program that includes replacing its mainframe (RIMS), a traffic‑monitoring strategic plan and an automated vehicle‑location system.
The Department of Transportation asked the House Appropriations Government Operations Division to allow carryover of previously appropriated funds so the agency can continue a multiyear effort to replace an aging mainframe and finish other information‑technology projects.
"We would like to start off by trying to answer some of the present some information on our IT projects and then answer any questions," Director Ron Henke said as he opened the department's IT presentation. Henke said the agency has requested carryover authority for funds appropriated in prior biennia to finish projects now underway.
The largest IT program is RIMS, the DOT's mainframe replacement effort. Henke told the committee the department received authority in prior biennia totaling $9,600,000 in special (highway) funds and roughly $6.25 million in general funds for RIMS; as of February 2025 the department had spent about $1.1 million of that allocation. Henke described RIMS as a multiyear, phased effort that includes an asset inventory, roadway capital planning, a project master system, data management and post‑implementation work that the department expects to continue into future biennia.
Greg Hoffman, deputy chief information officer at the state Information Technology Department (NDIT), described the vendor approach for several projects. "These are gonna be software as a solution," Hoffman said, explaining the department will generally buy configurable, off‑the‑shelf systems and then configure them to North Dakota's needs rather than fully customizing software.
Henke also reviewed several related DOT IT efforts: an automated vehicle‑location (AVL) system that will put real‑time truck location and material‑use data on the department travel map; a three‑phase traffic‑monitoring project in which the department is seeking a new vendor to complete a strategic plan and later equipment purchases; and other agency systems detailed in the department handout.
On the traffic monitoring project, Henke said the department had a vendor for phase 2 but "we had to mutually agree to leave them" and are again seeking a vendor to complete the strategic plan before buying count equipment. Committee members pressed about procurement and the sometimes wide cost ranges for projects; Hoffman and Henke explained state procurement rules require competitive processes and that early analysis to nail down requirements can itself cost in the low millions, which drives the practice of presenting a cost range and using initial contract phases to refine scope.
Henke said if the committee approves the carryover requests, DOT will return in later biennia for additional forward authority because projects such as RIMS span multiple years and remaining phases.
The committee did not vote on the carryover during the hearing; members and staff asked for additional details and schedules while DOT and NDIT staff remained available to answer follow‑up questions.
