Ed Mendel at CalPensions reports further news that the $275 million CalPERS computer system is late and over budget. He raises similar warnings mentioned at TechLeader.TV about the California Court Case Management System now approaching stratospheric cost estimates of $2 billion.
These so-called non-Executive entities like the courts and CalPERS plus constitutional offices, K-12 and higher ed and others are outside the jurisdiction of the State CIO, now enscounced at the newly christened California Technology Agency. In 2009, given the sorry performance in the implementation of the State Controller’s payroll project (another one that does not escape Mendel’s pen), the legislature acted and mandated that the State CIO get involved. Formerly entitled the 21st Century Project, some cruel critics of the project encouraged by TechLeader.TV took to calling it the 22nd Century Project. For this reason or perhaps some other, the project is now known by the onomatopoeia-like MyCalPAYS, and expects to begin issuing actual checks to some 90,000 state employees before the end of this year. So maybe the State CIO oversight helped. We will be watching closely as usual, and we wish them well.
But It’s time given the huge financial implications to ensure that all state IT projects funded with taxpayers dollars be subjected to budget approval and independent oversight by the State CIO.