New Mexico DoIT reports upgraded project oversight, expanded public‑safety radio coverage and statewide AI policy

The Department of Information Technology on Monday told the legislature it has modernized project oversight and rolled out a statewide AI policy while expanding emergency radio coverage and cybersecurity controls.

Cabinet Secretary (New Mexico Department of Information Technology) told the Science, Technology & Telecommunications Committee that DoIT now “provide[s] IT services to the 76 agencies within the state,” described the agency’s role as an enterprise service provider and credited passage of HB 618 with speeding procurement and contract execution.

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Jason Habadink outlined EPMO modernization and a newly published public project dashboard that DoIT updates weekly. He said the active portfolio totals about 60 projects with a combined value of $1,110,000,000 and appropriations to date of $883,850,000, meaning some projects rely on multiyear funding or federal contributions.

“The gap often reflects multiyear phasing and federal funding components,” Habadink said, describing how projects may be budgeted over multiple fiscal years rather than funded in a single appropriation.

DoIT also highlighted public‑safety communications progress: the P25 digital trunk radio expansion has 85 radio sites online and 82 sites in active implementation, supporting more than 21,000 users and roughly 2.5 million monthly radio calls. The agency said the program now covers about 70–80% of the state geographically and aims for over 90% coverage.

On cybersecurity, the office baselined executive‑branch agencies to the NIST SP 800‑53 Moderate profile and reported routine scanning and policy updates. The Office of Cybersecurity provided metrics showing user reporting of suspicious items is improving and said it aims for a performance metric of 85% patch completion, while acknowledging agency dependencies slow some remediation.

Committee members pressed DoIT on whether agencies are cooperative on common platforms, how the department addresses patching delays and how the portfolio funding gap will be closed if federal support shrinks. Representative Garrett asked about K–12 support; DoIT said it provides vulnerability scanning, penetration testing and cybersecurity awareness training to some schools but acknowledged scaling to all districts would increase costs substantially.

DoIT officials asked lawmakers for continuing support as the agency pursues common IT service platforms (help‑desk/ITSM tools), accessibility improvements for public websites and further investments in staff and modernization to sustain project delivery.

The committee did not take formal action on any appropriation during the hearing. The agency arranged follow‑up offers to brief legislative staff on the top 10 projects and to provide more detailed portfolio briefings on request.