OIT tells audit committee it will reassign in-house experts, makes no formal funding request

David Edinger of the Office of Information Technology told the Legislative Audit Committee on Feb. 4 that OIT plans to use existing, in-house subject-matter experts to address findings in a recent audit and that the agency is not currently making a specific resource request. "We had hundreds of employees engaged — with thousands of hours," Edinger said, adding that while auditors' recommendations have driven progress, gaps remain in communication and documentation.

Senator Pelton asked what the committee should expect when members hear the staff plan and what "resources" would look like in practice, including costs and the likelihood of implementation. Edinger said he is evaluating how to marshal OIT personnel allocated elsewhere to augment the work, and cautioned against merely assigning many people to a problem without a clear plan: "Sometimes you could just throw too many people at a problem, and it doesn't make you go any faster." He said his priority is to identify areas where the agency is under-resourced and address lapses as efficiently as possible and reiterated, "I don't have any particular resource request."

Senator Weissman suggested the committee schedule another meeting in early April to give agencies roughly 60 days to narrow differences and report back; staff offered to coordinate scheduling and to host members at OIT's office for briefings. The committee did not take further action on resourcing during the session.

The exchange matters because the committee's follow-up could determine whether the audit recommendations receive dedicated funding or are addressed through internal reallocation. The committee indicated it will consider setting a meeting in early April, possibly in executive session, to review progress.