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Virginia CIO briefs committee on VITA modernization, cybersecurity gains and AI plans
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Summary
Bob Osman, Virginia’s chief information officer, told the Communications, Technology and Innovation Committee that VITA has modernized networks and reduced critical cyber incidents, described procurement and cloud plans, and outlined AI and workforce efforts to govern and deploy new tools.
Bob Osman, chief information officer of the Virginia IT Agency (VITA), briefed the House Communications, Technology and Innovation Committee on VITA’s modernization work, cybersecurity results and near-term procurement plans.
Osman said VITA employs roughly 350 people and supports statewide infrastructure, cyber and procurement services. He described a shift to a managed services/integrator (MSI) model and recent large contract awards, including managed security services to a commercial contractor, and said the agency is preparing major recompetes for cloud, private cloud and end-user devices.
On operational results, Osman said the state’s network capacity has been scaled substantially and that last year produced only two P1 cyber incidents — a drop from a higher level in previous years. "Last year, we had only 2 cyber P1 instances for the entire year," Osman told the committee, and he said the agency’s cybersecurity insurance costs have fallen as a result.
Osman also described practical efficiency gains: consolidating email and business systems into Microsoft and building cloud capabilities that have shortened provisioning times (he said a server that once took weeks now takes minutes). He emphasized workforce and governance as priorities for AI adoption and described tools in use, including automatic website translation into 11 languages and a secure CoPilot environment for state employees.
Members asked about a wave of upcoming contract expirations and whether VITA has the capacity to run large procurements. Osman said a plan and teams are in place to manage staged procurements to avoid simultaneous large change events and minimize operational disruption.
The committee also heard that VITA has developed a substance-use data platform (SUDA) integrating data from multiple agencies, noted as available publicly at suda.virginia.gov, and Osman said it is the first platform of its kind to combine data from 10 agencies for local planning and response.
Next steps: VITA will proceed with planned procurements, continue cyber and cloud work, and report back on contract competitions and the implementation schedule. The committee then moved to subcommittee assignments and adjourned.
