JITOC approves release of $11.8M for ERP phase 2 after JFO review and ADS briefing

The Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee voted to approve the release of an $11.8 million appropriation for phase 2 of the state’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project, conditioned by a strong recommendation that future funding requests include Joint Fiscal Office oversight recommendations.

Legislative Counsel Rick Segal framed JITOC’s role under Act 185 (2022), telling members that the appropriation “shall only be released following approval by JITOC” after review of departmental readiness, RFP responsiveness and the independent review. Emily Byrne of the Joint Fiscal Office introduced Lisa Gobin’s technical review, which identified several gaps in the independent review and project documentation.

Lisa Gobin, JFO’s IT consultant, told the committee she had pursued additional documents and conversations beyond the independent review and concluded the project carried notable risks: procurement used a NASPO cloud-services path rather than a bespoke ERP RFP, the independent reviewer did not have access to all Workday contract materials and final implementation contracts differed materially from earlier drafts. Gobin also identified missing business requirements, limited data-archive planning (the contract covered two years of migrated data), and testing/tenant limitations that raise integration and security risks.

Agency witnesses Denise Riley Hughes (state CIO) and Secretary of Administration Sarah Clark defended the approach, saying Workday was procured legitimately, the administration will execute a business process transformation contract beginning December 1 and the project includes a governance structure and EPMO methodology focused on business-led change management. Riley Hughes noted two appropriations totaling about $24 million across phases ($12.8 million for phase 1 and $11.8 million for phase 2) and said the administration expects no additional appropriation request in the upcoming 2025 session.

Committee members pressed ADS and JFO on procurement choices, timeline for requirements and gap analysis, the contingency for change orders, and how the legislature will be informed if additional appropriations become necessary. ADS said it has contingency funds and a communication plan; JFO recommended oversight checkpoints and reporting to the legislature as the business-requirements phase proceeds.

A member moved to release the $11.8 million appropriation with a strong recommendation that money and jurisdictional committees attach JFO’s full recommendations to future funding requests. The motion passed (recorded votes included Senator Randy Brock: Yes; Representative Preschool: Yes; Representative Civilian: Yes; Senator Renner: No; Chair Seth Chase: Yes). The committee also scheduled a brief December 13 check-in for transition and to pass a note to incoming committee members.