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Committee reviews $50M IT modernization bill amid questions over past spending and rollout timelines
Summary
House Bill 10 requests roughly $50 million for statewide IT modernization, cybersecurity and agency projects. Committee members pressed CIOs and agency leads about unspent prior appropriations, procurement timelines, and prioritization of court audiovisual upgrades and e‑filing work.
Representative John Fitzpatrick presented House Bill 10, a statewide information technology appropriation bill totaling roughly $50 million designed to modernize legacy systems, improve cybersecurity and support projects across multiple agencies. "The focus of this bill is modernization of legacy IT systems," Fitzpatrick said, noting prior successful projects and the goal of more customer‑centric services.
Kevin Gilbertson, the state chief information officer, and agency CIOs including Carrie Albro (DPHHS) and Ryan Davies (judicial branch) testified about individual agency projects. Testimony described projects ranging from an advanced transportation management and motor fuel system to corrections surveillance and judicial e‑filing and courtroom audio‑video upgrades.
Committee members repeatedly asked why earlier IT appropriations remain unspent and asked agencies to provide itemized follow‑up materials showing prior allocations, current status, and expected timelines to spend existing funds. DPHHS explained that federal approvals, procurement diligence, cybersecurity and contracting reviews lengthen timelines; Carrie Albro said those federal reviews can take weeks to months and that procurement and contracting diligence are intensive for large systems.
The judicial branch described a multi‑year rollout to outfit courtrooms for remote appearances, saying the initial proof‑of‑concept and vendor choices prolonged the schedule and that installations require coordination with vendors, SITSD and court schedules. Ryan Davies said the audio‑video project is about 20% complete and the prior appropriation remains in use as the program continues to be implemented.
Representatives of Montana Community Colleges, the university system and agency IT leads testified as proponents. The committee asked agencies to return with detailed status updates on prior HB10 allocations, lists of prioritized courthouses for AV work, and procurement and reporting benchmarks so legislators can track progress and outcomes.
Representative Fitzpatrick closed by noting the importance of investing in cybersecurity and modernization while acknowledging the committee’s concerns about procurement and reporting.
The hearing closed and the committee adjourned.
