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California Earns A- Grade in Digital States Survey

The state of California earned a grade of A- in the biennial Digital States Survey, presented by the Center for Digital Government. Among its accomplishments cited were work on streamlining IT procurement, DMV transactions and access to COVID-19 resources.

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Amy Tong
Buoyed by a stream of technological, innovation, policy and process improvements, the state of California earned a grade of A- in the biennial Digital States Survey, presented by the Center for Digital Government (CDG).*

The initiatives epitomized what Government Technology* magazine’s Adam Stone wrote “showed a commitment to technology-driven government prior to the pandemic” — and the capability to quickly pivot when COVID-19 took hold in late winter. CDG Executive Director Teri Takai highlighted a greater focus on citizen-centric service seen throughout the longer survey, which may be found here.

“We are seeing lots of new applications, greater uses of artificial intelligence, all with an eye toward greater citizen service,” Takai told GT.

California also earned an A- grade in CDG’s last Digital States Survey in 2018, the year voters elected Gov. Gavin Newsom. In April, Newsom reappointed state Chief Information Officer Amy Tong, who is also director of the California Department of Technology. Among the endeavors noted in the survey, one of Newsom’s earliest executive orders set in motion the flexible, iterative Innovation Procurement Sprint and empowered departments to make use of the Request for Innovative Ideas (RFI2) to secure new technology solutions without traditional but sometimes slower RFPs. Perhaps the highest-profile example is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s work with vendor Technosylva on a cloud-based subscription product to let firefighters predict the path of wildfires.

Also highlighted: the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ recently added ability to accept credit card payments — something Newsom mentioned from the early days of his administration; DMV’s Virtual Field Office, stood up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and its two DMV Vendor Days to connect directly with vendors on new solutions. The Office of Digital Innovation, created by Newsom in July 2019, has hired its first director and is seeking a CIO. And the state’s alpha team of technologists from several agencies created alpha.ca.gov, a modern iteration of the state’s main page ca.gov — then worked with state tech and health and human services agencies on the state’s official coronavirus response website, covid19.ca.gov.

*The Center for Digital Government and Government Technology magazine are part of e.Republic, parent company of Techwire.

Theo Douglas is Assistant Managing Editor of Industry Insider — California.