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Department of Administration asks subcommittee to authorize statewide data office, 11 FTEs
Summary
Department of Administration officials told a legislative subcommittee they want to create an Office of Statewide Data (5 recurring FTEs plus a nonrecurring startup request for consulting) and authorization for 11 other-funded FTEs to support IT shared services; staff offered follow-up briefings.
Mister Cook, speaking for the Department of Administration, told a legislative subcommittee that the department is seeking to create an Office of Statewide Data and to obtain authorization for 11 other-funded full-time positions.
The proposed Office of Statewide Data includes a recurring request for five FTEs and a nonrecurring request to cover startup costs, including hiring a consultant to perform data mapping and help stand up the program. "We have a lot of data data silos in agencies," Mister Cook said, arguing the office would coordinate data sharing across agencies that often serve the same constituents and would enable more effective use of AI and other tools.
Cook said the department already provides IT shared services to "over 40 agencies now," and described an estimated reduction of about 65 agency-level FTEs as some services were consolidated. He said the department needs authorization for 11 FTEs to support the consolidated workload and that the positions are other-funded (not new general fund dollars): "We just need the authorization of the 11 FTE," he said.
Chair Micah Kaske asked for a follow-up briefing to clarify which IT functions are centralized and which remain agency-specific, citing recent experience trying to understand application versus infrastructure responsibilities. Cook offered to meet offline to provide a detailed explanation and said Admin reviews IT budget requests and works with Ways and Means staff; Admin typically supplies infrastructure (servers, network, desktop support) while agencies retain responsibility for applications.
Director Adams was noted as apologizing for not attending; departmental staff present included Lindsey Kremlich (deputy chief of staff), Karen Rheumfeld (director of administrative services), Katie Phillips (director of government affairs) and Tom Caminer (budget director).
The department also briefly described related requests for the governor's office and mansion: a modernization of the boards-and-commissions appointment process via a software application (quoted in the meeting as about $1,000,000), transition-related changeover costs between administrations, and market-driven adjustments for mansion operations. Committee members did not take a formal vote on the specific DOA budget requests during this portion of the meeting; staff said they will follow up with briefings and additional details if requested.
Next steps: staff agreed to schedule the requested technical briefing for members to review central versus agency IT responsibilities and to provide additional budget detail about the proposed Office of Statewide Data and the 11 FTE authorizations.
