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Authors

Patrick Groves

Staff Writer


Patrick Groves was a staff writer for Government Technology from 2019 to 2020.

March 24, 2020

Omar Sandoval

IT Director, Naperville Park District, Ill.
February 20, 2020

Arkansas Hires CDO in Partnership with University System

Arkansas officials named Joshua McGee as the new state chief data officer. McGee will retain his current professor position with the University of Arkansas and plans to apply academia data tools to state government.
February 18, 2020

Mississippi 911 Agency Adopts Cellphone Location Software

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is helping connect software vendor RapidSOS with its 82 counties. The company's no-cost solution can relay a person's location to 911 dispatchers accurately to about 3 feet.
February 13, 2020

West Virginia Expands Online Voting as Security Worries Grow

After trying Internet voting for overseas voters, West Virginia is expanding the option to those with physical disabilities. But MIT researchers now say they’ve found worrying flaws in the app the state has been using.
February 11, 2020

Real-Time Analytics to Help Nevada DMV Adapt to Real ID Push

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has seen significant decreases in wait times for walk-in customers with the use of a lobby management tool that provides near-real-time data that allows staff to adjust to demand.
February 7, 2020

Small Victories Equate to Long-Term IT Success, Experts Say

IT leaders from across California gathered at the 2020 Public Sector CIO Academy to learn how to mitigate the intrinsic risk of innovation. Experts advised identifying small solutions that over time result in big wins.
February 6, 2020

With Great Data Comes Great Responsibility, Experts Say

At the Public Sector CIO Academy, experts from the public and private sectors provided insight into what IT leaders need to think about when considering data collection and sharing aimed at benefiting residents' lives.
January 29, 2020

Illinois ERP System Sets Standard for State Modernization

Illinois is quickly approaching a fully functional and modern enterprise resource planning system optimizing financial data and HR processes. As of Jan. 1, the system can accurately track 90 percent of the state budget.
January 27, 2020

Louisiana Audit Critical of IT Agency's Customer Service

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's performance report complained about the lack of a comprehensive service catalog and poor project tracking, but the state CIO said the audit didn't capture all that the department does.
January 27, 2020

Mid-Sized IT Innovation: Two Cities Chart Their Own Course

Shreveport, La., and Boulder, Colo., are using tools like open source development, flatter organizational structures and performance dashboards to inspire continuous improvements in each city’s use of technology.

January 22, 2020

Rhode Island Governor, CIO Call for Investment in ERP Upgrades

According to officials, the state is risking disruptions to operations with its legacy human resources system. Gov. Gina Raimondo has asked legislators to approve the funding to modernize the necessary systems.
January 21, 2020

Missouri Appoints New CIO to Continue Modernization Efforts

Newly appointed state CIO Jeffrey Wann will bring both public- and private-sector IT modernization experience to the role. Wann will build on the work of his predecessor Mike Cheles, who retired in December.
January 16, 2020

Portland, Ore., Employs Agile Sprints to Rebuild City Portal

Following the lead of other state and local governments, the city is rethinking its website and opting for an open-source solution. The agile process will mean a more user-friendly portal and better access to services.
January 15, 2020

L.A. County Takes a Shot at Correcting IT’s Gender Imbalance

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has passed a Women in Technology Hiring Initiative that will connect at-risk and disconnected youth ages 14-24 with IT mentors and training to bolster its entry-level IT personnel.
January 7, 2020

Texas Department of Agriculture Website Briefly Defaced

A hacker identifying themselves as an “Iranian hacker” defaced the state’s agricultural agency homepage with an image of Qassem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian general killed in a U.S. drone strike last week in Baghdad.

January 3, 2020

New York CISO Retires After Three Decades in State Service

Deborah Snyder retired from civil service at the end of November. She joined the Office of Information Technology Services in 2012 and as CISO she helped redesign how the state protected its data.
December 19, 2019

Chicago IT Audit Claims Inconsistent Oversight That's Costly to City

City auditors reviewed Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) projects in 2016 and 2017 costing at least $250,000. The audit, published Thursday, stated that DoIT processes may have raised costs and delayed projects.
December 17, 2019

New Hampshire Joins Northeast States in Tax System Upgrades

The state, like many around it, is moving ahead with an initiative to revamp a 30-year-old legacy system with an off-the-shelf solution. The phased project is set for completion in fall 2021.

December 16, 2019

California’s Alpha Team Takes on Real-Time .Gov Redesign

The team has just weeks to design a new, user-friendly homepage for the entire state that can be adopted by other departments and agencies. But its larger goal is to help rebuild trust in state government.
December 6, 2019

Innovation Team Helps Remove License Reinstatement Barriers

By tapping human-centered design principles, the i-Team in Durham, N.C., has helped the district attorney remove 51,000 charges for 35,000 individuals, many of whom were facing restricted driving privileges.
November 28, 2019

Louisiana Turns to App for Medicaid Improvements, Accessibility

The Louisiana Department of Health has partnered with vendor MAXIMUS to streamline Medicaid enrollment, creating the Healthy Louisiana app. Eligible residents can use the app to compare health-care plans and find doctors.
November 27, 2019

New Louisiana App Provides One-Stop Shop for Medicaid

The Louisiana Department of Health has partnered with vendor MAXIMUS to streamline Medicaid enrollment, creating the Healthy Louisiana app. Eligible residents can use the app to compare health-care plans and find doctors.
November 21, 2019

Vermont Attorneys Leverage Open Source Expungement Plug-In

A Vermont Code for America brigade, Code for BTV, designed a Google Chrome extension to scrape data from criminal dockets found on the state's legacy court database to autofill expungement and record sealing petitions.

November 14, 2019

Digital Cities 2019: Winners Gear Up for a New Decade

The winners of this year’s Digital Cities Survey from the Center for Digital Government are those making smart investments in technologies from infrastructure and citizen engagement to data storage and cybersecurity.
November 6, 2019

Looking to Its Future, Wyoming Is Optimizing Legacy Systems

Wyoming's departments of Transportation and Enterprise Technology Services are working with a vendor to map its in-house Revenue Information System while stabilizing the state's hardware by using mainframe-as-a-service.

October 30, 2019

Texas Quietly Updates Records Laws to Include Personal Devices

Gov. Greg Abbott signed two bills into law in June to increase transparency in the state by closing public records loopholes and extending authority over official communication on state employees' personal devices.
October 29, 2019

Massachusetts’ Inaugural Data, Digital Officer Departs

Mass., Chief Data and Digital Officer Holly St. Clair leaves to pursue job in the private sector. Gov. Charlie Baker tasked St. Clair with redesigning the state's website after she was promoted to her dual role in 2016.
October 21, 2019

Philadelphia Sets Goals, Looks Ahead with Smart City Plan

Last week, the city released a strategic plan detailing accomplishments, future goals and the advancement of smart city approaches for residents and vendors to understand the priorities of the Office of Innovation and Technology.
October 16, 2019

North Carolina CIO Eric Boyette to Serve as NASCIO President

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers announced that Boyette will be serving as the organization's president for the '19-'20 program year during its annual conference in Nashville, Tenn., this week.
October 11, 2019

Network Deal to Serve as Research, Public Services Vehicle

A newly minted Oregon nonprofit is partnering with a California-based education and research network to better connect universities. The new deal will also help deliver public services, officials say.
October 10, 2019

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Proposes Controversial IT Merger

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to merge the departments of Innovation and Technology, and Fleet and Facility Management in 2020 to save the city $1 million and help drive down an $838 million budget shortfall.

October 7, 2019

Raleigh, N.C., CIO Departs to Lead Textile Company IT

D. Darnell Smith left his post in August to become vice president and CIO of Standard Textile, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. IT Business Applications Director Beth Stagner was named as interim CIO.
October 4, 2019

California Bill Would Level the Playing Field for Telehealth

The California Assembly passed a telehealth bill requiring health-care plans to equally reimburse providers for services having the same effect remotely as in person. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Oct. 13 to make it law.
October 1, 2019

Asheville, N.C.’s CIO on Cyberstrategy and Long-Term Goals

Jonathan Feldman, chief information officer of Asheville for the last 15 years, discusses the changes he’s seen in his city as new technologies have become available, as well as what he sees in his agency’s future.
September 30, 2019

Missouri CIO Announces Impending Retirement from State Service

CIO Michael Cheles is set to retire at the end of 2019, citing personal reasons. While serving as the state's IT chief, he increased training hours, opened channels of communication and readied Missouri for new solutions.
September 26, 2019

New York Report Studies Risks, Rewards of the Smart City

The New York Office of the State Comptroller commissioned an informational report on the deployment of new technologies in cities statewide, highlighting innovative efforts and the importance of strong cybersecurity.

September 20, 2019

California Awards Grants to Develop New Firefighting Tech

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced two vendor contracts for prototype solutions for wildfire detection and predictive modeling to help firefighters, law enforcement and the public as fires become more devastating.
September 18, 2019

Washington CIO Formulates Plan to Bring Cloud to the State

State CIO James Weaver envisions ways that cloud services and "as-a-service" models can replace legacy IT and help WaTech honor the taxpayer investment in the State Data Center while meeting agencies' needs.
September 16, 2019

North Dakota Hires Chief Reinvention Officer to Innovate IT

CIO Shawn Riley has recruited Kevin Parker as the state's new chief reinvention officer to use his wide-ranging academic and professional experience to help rethink, retool and enhance citizen-centric IT services.
September 6, 2019

Connecticut CDO Steps Down to Pursue New Data Endeavor

The state's first chief data officer, Tyler Kleykamp, will begin working in the academic sector to improve the positive impacts of data across the country using the best practices he learned as CDO.
September 3, 2019

Indiana Begins Phased Rollout of FAST Enterprises Tax System

The Indiana Department of Revenue has begun phasing out its 25-year-old legacy tax system in favor of an integrated software solution. The $77.7 million project is expected to be complete in 2022.

September 1, 2019

Lessons from Cary, N.C.’s ‘Living Lab’ for Connected Tech

Cary, N.C., chief information officer Nicole Raimundo discusses the benefits the city has seen from its testbed for smart city technologies, and how she works to secure the data it collects.
August 28, 2019

Illinois IT Continues to Refine Mobile Caseworker App

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ award-winning Always Stay Konnected app is continually upgraded with new user-friendly technology to help children, families and staff in the field.

August 21, 2019

Kansas Governor Names New Tech Chief to Replace Lee Allen

Gov. Laura Kelly has tapped Department of Administration Secretary DeAngela Burns-Wallace to serve as the state's new chief information technology officer. She replaces Lee Allen, who was appointed in July 2018.
August 21, 2019

Oklahoma Picks New CISO With Aim to Fortify Cyberdefenses

Oklahoma's new Chief Information Security Officer Matt Singleton has set his sights on establishing a statewide cybersecurity strategy after reviewing current policies and procedures related to the matter.
August 20, 2019

North Dakota IT Upgrades Its Asset Inventory System

State CIO Shawn Riley assuages legislators' worries by detailing how his department has found 100 of the 217 unaccounted-for devices stated in recent audit findings and his plan to prevent future clerical errors.
August 15, 2019

Cluster Maps Project Helps Groups Identify Allies in Indiana

The Indiana Data Partnership features visualizations meant to connect nonprofits, government agencies and private-sector organizations in their work to solve societal issues, like the ongoing opioid epidemic.

August 8, 2019

Maine to Restructure Its IT Office Under Newly Approved Plan

State commissioners, who sit on the governor's cabinet and lead executive-level agencies, have approved CIO Fred Brittain's proposal to reorganize IT operations under the Office of the Chief Information Officer.
August 8, 2019

Kansas Delays Data Center Migration to Hybrid Cloud

Legacy network bottlenecks during the testing phase of the data and application migration to a Unisys-owned hybrid cloud center, in Eagan, Minn., have pushed back state plans to go live until early November.
August 2, 2019

Kansas IT Audit: Consolidation Will Cost the State More Money

Consolidating and modernizing the state’s IT infrastructure will cost money, says Chief Information Technology Officer Lee Allen, but it is a necessary investment after years of deferrals and course corrections.

July 26, 2019

Following Critical Audit, New Illinois CIO Talks Improvement

Illinois CIO Ron Guerrier has created five pillars within the Department of Innovation and Technology to be assessed annually, with the goal of assuring that efficiencies and best practices are followed.

July 25, 2019

Tyler Technologies Signs $85 Million North Carolina Contract

Texas-based Tyler Technologies Inc. marks its 15th statewide SaaS contract for its Odyssey product line with an $85 million deal for the statewide modernization of North Carolina’s judicial system.
July 22, 2019

NASCIO, PTI Talk State of Cybersecurity, AI and Cloud

A recent webcast tackled the challenges facing IT shops at the state and local level and national trends in fighting ransomware, migrating applications to the cloud and adopting artificial intelligence technologies.

July 18, 2019

Oregon Sharpens Cyberdefenses in the Months After DHS Breach

A targeted phishing cyberattack on the Department of Human Services in January compromised 645,000 records and 2 million emails. The agency has been working with the new CISO to fortify its cybersecurity in the months since.

July 12, 2019

North Carolina Creates Task Force on Blockchain Deployments

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest has formed the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative made up of members from academia and the private sector who will present their findings to his office before the next legislative session.

July 11, 2019

Oregon’s Liquor Control Agency Needs New Hardware, Software

Oregon Liquor Control Commission IT staff manually intervene every day to keep the state's third-largest revenue generating agency functioning as optimally as possible while mitigating system failures at least twice a month.

July 3, 2019

Audit: Oregon DAS Behind on Basic Cybersecurity Safeguards

The Oregon Secretary of State's office released an audit evaluating the cybersecurity of the Department of Administrative Services, making seven recommendations to be fully implemented by 2023.
July 3, 2019

North Dakota Gets FAA Approval to Fly Drones Over People

The Federal Aviation Administration granted the North Dakota Department of Transportation a four-year waiver to fly unmanned aircraft systems, otherwise known as drones, over people in the state.

June 28, 2019

Maryland Launches Two-Year Digital License Plate Pilot

The Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration will explore the durability and public safety benefits of digital license plates on 22 state-owned vehicles during a two-year pilot.
June 25, 2019

Nebraska Makerspaces Ignite Creativity in Libraries Statewide

Thirty-one community libraries across the state will be temporary homes for public makerspaces, where residents can use tools like laser cutters, 3-D printers, vinyl cutters, heat presses and more.
June 24, 2019

Virtual Robots Innovate Montgomery County, Md., Government

The county has been implementing UiPath robotic process automation for the past 18 months to increase staff productivity and morale, improve customer service and streamline business workflows.
June 19, 2019

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Table Bill Easing 5G Antenna Rules

Legislators canceled a vote on a telecom-backed bill that would have made it easier and cheaper for companies to install 5G small cell antennas. Municipal leaders criticized the bill for eroding local authority.
June 19, 2019

InnovateOhio Platform Ramps Up User-Friendly Online Services

Roughly 1 million Ohioans have signed up for OH|ID single sign-on to access 100 government services and counting, as new state leadership brainstorms the creation of a digital wallet for residents.
June 14, 2019

Samir Saini Resigns as NYC CIO, Leaves for Private Sector

Saini tendered his resignation as New York City's IT Commissioner and CIO June 13. The former Atlanta CIO was tapped to lead the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications in January 2018.

June 13, 2019

Oklahoma Opens Its Finances to Increase Transparency

OpenGov-designed Oklahoma Checkbook provides users with an accounting of state expenditures and fulfills one of the governor's campaign promises to strengthen transparency and accountability.
June 11, 2019

Rhode Island RFP Has Long List of Uses for Blockchain

Rhode Island officials are looking to the private sector to help them become the first state to implement blockchain technology across multiple agencies, thereby increasing government efficiency in several areas.
June 10, 2019

North Dakota Plans Statewide Drone Air Traffic Control

An unmanned aircraft network would allow drones to be operated beyond visual line of sight using both radar and radio transmissions. State leaders believe it could prove to be an economic boon for the state.
June 7, 2019

Arkansas Cabinet Shakeup Will Benefit IT Efforts, CIO Says

A transformation two years in the making is about to change Gov. Asa Hutchinson's cabinet and state government as a whole. CIO Yessica Jones says the shift should make it easier to drive IT projects forward.
June 6, 2019

An Open Source Program Aims to Help Idaho Shore Up Cyberdefenses

Idaho's Incident Response Program will be implemented statewide via WebEOC for state agencies and local governments to identify cyberthreats in a standardized and quantifiable format.
May 31, 2019

Freshly Inked Deal to Provide Rural Delaware with Broadband

The Department of Technology and Information signed a contract with Maryland-based broadband company Bloosurf to expand broadband access to 127,000 rural residents and businesses.
May 30, 2019

The Threat of Decentralization Gone, Oklahoma IT Realigns

Not all legislation is written with the intention of having it signed into law. Occasionally, it’s meant to serve as a lever to align lawmakers and state agencies. In Oklahoma, that’s just what it did.

May 29, 2019

Nebraska's Long Haul to Implement Next-Generation 911

The Public Service Commission and its contractor are working to gather experts to address key obstacles to the rollout of statewide next-generation 911.

May 28, 2019

Henderson, Nev., CIO Laura Fucci to Retire from City Service

Fucci, a Henderson native, acknowledges the hard work and many successes of the city's IT department staff as she prepares to retire from her post May 30.
May 24, 2019

Georgia Hosts Inaugural Cyber Dawg Summit at New Center

Held earlier this month, the event is expected to be the first of many uniting key players in Georgia's cybersecurity scene to test and refine their plans for dealing with threats like ransomware.

May 22, 2019

Seattle Tech Chief Dismisses 14 Directors, Middle Managers

Chief Technology Officer Saad Bashir is following through with his promises to reduce red tape and improve processes and structures within the Seattle Information Technology Department, starting with staff realignment.

May 21, 2019

Wyoming Agencies Work to Update 30-Year-Old Statewide System

Wyoming Department of Transportation estimates the cost to replace the Revenue Information System at around $68 million over the next decade. State agencies are in the initial phases of weighing all of the options.
May 15, 2019

Single Sign-On Tool Streamlines Benefits in New Mexico

The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions went live with a new system that requires users to sync existing accounts for an improved experience accessing unemployment services.

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