Dominic CalabroIt’s been said that a team is only as strong as its leader. This adage rings especially true as Florida seeks to find its first head of the soon-to-be-created Agency for State Technology.
Strong leadership often makes the difference between success and failure, and the state is all too familiar with failure in the arena of technology management. Florida has repeatedly had problems managing and using technology at the state level. Several agencies failed to take control of the issue, resulting in more than $100 million wasted on failed projects in the last decade alone.
Florida simply can’t afford weak leadership, and we can’t afford more failure.
Fortunately, Florida taxpayers should soon be seeing some real return on their investment in technology projects. This year, the Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 7073 that will establish the Agency for State Technology. Gov. Rick Scott approved the bill last week, and the new agency will begin overseeing the state’s IT projects on July 1. The goal is to reduce duplication and manage costs of IT projects across all of the state’s agencies, which had been operated independently.
Florida TaxWatch was a strong leader in the push for technology governance in Florida, garnering support from the business community. The TaxWatch Center for Government Efficiency, led by John R. Alexander and Bob Stork, included this important reform in the center’s annual cost-savings report. It concluded that the state would save more than $20 million if it improved its efficiency by only 1 percent.
The AST will have as many, if not more, challenges to overcome than its predecessors. The most immediate one is to find the right Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the new agency, which launches in just a few weeks. To find the right candidate, Florida’s best option is an interim CIO while a nationwide search is conducted.
While the bill has specific criteria for the CIO as a proven administrator with public and private sector experience, a nationwide search could take a year or more.
It is imperative that in choosing the state’s first CIO, Florida conducts a thorough search to find the right candidate. This person will be responsible for laying the foundation of an agency that has the potential to save hundreds of millions, if not billions, of taxpayer money, and to use technology to increase efficiency of service delivery for Floridians.
In the meantime, Scott faces an important decision in his choice of an interim CIO. The right person faces an immediate challenge: Florida’s agencies view the new technology policy and infrastructure as invasive rather than a tool to enable them to reach greater success.
After the governor chooses an interim CIO, he and his staff must prioritize the recruitment of an effective leader to run this crucial new agency. Whomever the governor selects will be tasked with rebuilding the trust and confidence between the many outstanding Florida providers and the state as partners in the march toward improved efficiency for all of the state’s hardworking taxpayers.
Dominic M. Calabro is president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. TaxWatch is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit taxpayer research institute and government watchdog. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
