Massachusetts will spend $1.2B to modernize state IT systems over next five years
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday signed a bill to modernize information technology systems across state government over the next five years.
The FutureTech Act includes $1.23 billion to help strengthen cybersecurity measures, user experience across state websites and back-end business functions. The money will also support current state IT projects, including the state’s unemployment insurance modernization project, a multi-year initiative to ease access to benefits, and a project to modernize the state’s payroll and finance management systems.
“The front door to government is now digital. We are now at a point where the vast majority of residents’ first interactions with state government are via the web,” Massachusetts Chief Information Officer Jason Snyder said in a press release. “This crucial legislation presents an opportunity to look forward and modernize the customer user experience to better deliver government services, while hardening our cyber defenses and making our residents and state IT systems safer.”
The FutureTech Act also includes $30 million for a municipal broadband project and $25 million for Community Compact Grant Programs, initiatives that allow municipalities to partner with the state to improve IT infrastructure, including cybersecurity, digital records management, online permitting and websites.
The act also directs $110 million to support the state’s Commonwealth Digital Roadmap, which aims to standardize user experiences across state agencies with a single identity that proactively points users to relevant information and services, chatbot services and SMS texting capabilities. Another $15 million goes to moving the Executive Office of Education’s servers into the cloud and $30 million to modernize a health records system operated by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
The Business Enterprise Systems Transformation, housed within the Office of the Comptroller, will receive $120 million to replace two core administrative systems used to manage financial, payroll and human resources functions in various agencies.
The new funding will also support artificial intelligence projects overseen by the state’s Executive Office of Technology Services and Security and the state’s AI Task Force.
“The FutureTech Act makes it easier for constituents and communities to interact with state government, while also modernizing our business functions and keeping our data secure,” Healey said in a press release. “Because of this bill, state government can operate more efficiently and seize on the opportunity to engage with emerging technologies like AI.”
