OYA seeks project management staff for eight high‑priority IT projects

The Oregon Youth Authority told the Joint Ways and Means Public Safety Subcommittee on Feb. 10 that it needs a small project management office to oversee eight high‑priority IT projects covering safety, security, and core operational systems.

Director Mike Tessin said OYA is managing eight high‑priority projects that together represent about 56 months of sequential work and that decentralized, part‑time oversight is no longer sufficient. "Without dedicated project management capacity, the risks are predictable — delays, inconsistent documentation, compliance gaps, limited visibility into project health and risks," Tessin said, and added that a small internal PMO would align OYA’s work with statewide IT and security standards.

OYA requested two positions to create the initial governance structure: one Project Manager 1 and one Operations and Policy Analyst 2. Tessin and Aparna Thomas, OYA’s chief information officer, described the staffing as modest but necessary to meet state IT maturity standards and reduce downstream costs associated with unsafe or delayed implementations. The item was presented as informational; the subcommittee did not take a vote.