After an extensive effort last year to examine her state’s technological shortcomings, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday issued an executive order that will rearrange the state’s IT efforts and place a greater emphasis on cybersecurity.
The order outlines a plan that involves centralizing the state’s IT administration and governance, instating statewide management of technology projects, launching detailed assessments of the state’s IT systems, consolidating duplicative services and creating a new, centralized cybersecurity office.
It will also, starting in August, rename the Department of Transformation and Shared Services’ Division of Information Systems, or DTSS DIS, to the Department of Shared Administrative Services, Office of State Technology, or DSAS OST.
The governor’s order is largely modeled after work the state performed last year examining its technology governance. The investigation revealed the state could save between $65 million and $130 million annually through a series of reorganizations. The resulting 956-page report also found that agency chief information officers were chiefly challenged by the need to manage…
