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Statewide project management office under consideration

In a Senate Oversight hearing last week on the canceled 21st Century Project, Department of Technology (CalTech) Director Carlos Ramos said the state is considering whether his department needs a statewide operation to help manage major IT projects, like the Office of Systems Integration (OSI) does for health and human services related IT projects. Scheduled to present at the hearing before time ran out, the Task Force on Reengineering IT Procurement for Success issued 21 recommendations on Thursday including one to create an OSI-type program within CalTech.

"We’re not at the point of being able to put a proposal forward yet, but it is something that has been considered and is under discussion," Ramos said.

Recommendation six of last week’s report states, "Under the authority and direction of the CTA [California Technology Agency, currently the Department of Technology], extend the Office of Systems Integration (OSI) model to the rest of the state for large-scale IT projects."

Currently, CalTech has oversight of major IT projects but does not have “hands on” project management authority.   However, the department has recently created the Consulting and Planning Division to help quickly get troubled projects back on track.

Ramos also said the state is sponsoring a project management conference, scheduled for August 28, to help managers become more successful, and will kick off a year-long project management academy for state employees, starting this October.

The OSI was established in 2005 to manage health and human services IT projects by overseeing the procurement, design, development and implementation phases of IT systems.