$3 million Omidyar grant to create state IT office

From GovTech.com

Thanks to a $3 million grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation, Hawaii will create a new Office of Information Management and Technology, which will be led by the state’s first chief information officer.

The new office will modernize the state’s technology system, provide greater accountability for data and spending, enhance security and backup measures and reduce energy usage. The CIO will be charged with developing an overall information management and technology plan.

“One of the biggest factors hampering government and costing taxpayers in time and money is the state’s outdated information technology,” Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in a statement. “Basic operations of government are stymied by an information management system that hasn’t been upgraded in decades. With this major initiative, we will transform our government and bring us to where we need to be in the 21st century.”

The concept of creating a separate office of technology for the state was set forth in Act 200, passed by the Hawaii Legislature in 2010. While the act mandated creation of the office, it didn’t identify a funding source to pay for it.

The grant funding from HCF comes from the Omidyar Ohana Fund, a donor-advised fund established through the support of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam.The grant is also in part conditioned upon money from pending state legislation — Senate Bill 1287 and House Bill 1060, which are currently under consideration — and future legislation, which would provide the majority of the necessary funding.