Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the It Modernization topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Department of Industrial Relations seeks $19.1 million for public-works IT phase; procurement delays and oversight questions flagged
Summary
The Department of Industrial Relations asked the subcommittee for $19.1 million in 2025' 26 for phase two of a public-works information system. Officials said an earlier CDT approval delay kept the request out of January proposals and a prior procurement produced no responsive bids, forcing a re-procurement and adding schedule pressure.
The California Department of Industrial Relations asked Assembly Subcommittee 5 on State Administration for a $19.1 million appropriation in 2025' 26 to continue phase two of a public-works information technology system intended to consolidate public-works data for enforcement and apprenticeship registration.
Josh Iverson, chief financial officer for DIR, said the request funds phase two activities, including system integration work and ongoing implementation tasks. Ben Bonte, DIR's chief information officer, described the project's objective as creating a core database from separate public-works systems to enable automatic flagging, data mining and strategic leads for the Labor Enforcement Task Force and improved prevailing-wage and apprenticeship tracking.
Committee members asked why the proposal was not in the January budget and whether the project would require still more funding in future years. Iverson said a California Department of Technology (CDT) special project report had not been approved in time for the January 10 budget, but CDT has since approved it and the administration included the request in the May Revision. Bonte and Iverson said DIR completed phase one in June 2024 and that a procurement for a system integrator produced no responsive bids, so DIR must re-run the procurement and expects an award in fall 2025 with project completion expected in October 2026.
Members and analysts expressed concern about aggregated technology spending across state agencies and the frequency of multi-year projects returning for additional appropriations. Iverson said the $19.1 million is the 2025' 26 allocation to support planned implementation work rather than an increase in total projected lifecycle costs.
Ending: Subcommittee members signaled they would continue to monitor statewide IT spending and asked administration and CDT for further oversight information; no action was taken at the hearing.
