TechWonk Blog Subsection
TechWonk Blog
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Today Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) has signed legislation in law, Act 15-142, that will make numerous changes to its existing breach of security law. Connecticut鈥檚 law will not only expand its current definition of personal information to include biometric data such as fingerprint, voice print, and a retina or iris image; but it will also require new data breach security terms and conditions [...]
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A major Texas procurement law has raised concerns among information technology (IT) companies that contract with the state. Among the numerous bills debated in the 84th Texas legislative session that focused on state contracting reform, Senate Bill 20 garnered both chambers鈥� approval. The bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 4 will put procurement reforms into law that follow earlier administration [...]
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Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania offered his budget address yesterday and took a page from ITAPS鈥� Innovation Strategy to streamline procurement processes and partner with private industry. In the address, Wolf called more attention to his newly formed Governor鈥檚 Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency (GO-TIME). GO-TIME is charged with identifying methods to streamline government [...]
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From 3-D printing to cloud computing and information technology (IT) services, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) in his State of the State address recognized that these cutting-edge technologies must have a home in Ohio. 鈥淭hey just can鈥檛 be somewhere else,鈥� Kasich said.聽 Gov. Kasich, following the scripts of other governors this year, focused on lowering state income taxes and investing more dollars in [...]
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Late last year, as a result of an open process designed to streamline and improve Maryland鈥檚 information technology (IT) procurement process, the state鈥檚 Department of Information Technology (DoIT) issued a revised set of 聽standard contractual terms and conditions for IT goods and services. The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS) encouraged state officials 聽to align their terms and conditions with [...]
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Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed Senate Bill 1811, a so called 鈥淏uy American鈥� bill, saying in his veto message that he will not build an economic wall around New Jersey.聽 Sponsored by the state Senate鈥檚 president, Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D), this bill required state agencies, political subdivisions and school districts to source American-made products purchased through public bidding.聽 [...]
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The past few weeks have seen a flurry of pomp and circumstance in state capitals as new governors are inaugurated and as incumbents deliver their State of the State addresses to lay out their visions.聽 As governors, administrators, and state legislators begin to roll up their sleeves for the work ahead, the IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), the alliance of leading technology companies in the public [...]
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More state technology departments are considering formalizing a process for evaluating the performance of information technology (IT) vendors. The overarching goal is certainly laudable 鈥� providing the state procurement community with a comprehensive tool to reduce risk in the contract award process. And while it may identify vendors who exceed performance expectations, it also may wrongly disadvantage [...]
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In the wake of scandals involving disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and a culture of 鈥減ay to play鈥� deals in which political contributions were exchanged for government contracts, state lawmakers and Governor Pat Quinn in 2009 enacted several pieces of reform legislation intended to stop similar fraud and abuse.聽 聽However, problems quickly became apparent with some of the more extreme [...]
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When the Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT) proposed a new Standard Information Technology (IT) Contract Template in August, the agency also invited industry partners to offer their views for streamlining and improving the state鈥檚 procurement process.聽 Maryland鈥檚 effort is encouraging, as the information technology sector not only offers widespread system flexibility and cost savings, [...]