NASCIO tackles state procurement risks

NASCIO Addresses IT Procurement Risk in States

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released an issue brief focusing on state information technology (IT) procurement risk. The NASCIO Procurement Modernization Committee, in partnership with TechAmerica and the National Association of State Procurement Officials, continues to focus on state IT procurement reforms and highlight best practices at the state level. This brief is the third in a series of recommendations set forth by this collaborative.

In the 2012 State CIO Survey: Advancing the C4 Agenda, 46 percent of state chief information officers (CIOs) expressed some form of dissatisfaction with the current form of IT procurement in their states. Taking these frustrations to heart, NASCIO has sought ways to encourage collaboration between CIOs, chief procurement officials and private information technology sector vendors.

Alex Pettit, co-chair of the NASCIO Procurement Modernization Committee and chief information officer for the state of Oklahoma said, “Procurement risk is something that all CIOs deal with and something we wanted to examine closely. The goal of this publication is to present information and options to CIOs to help them to get the conversation started in their states.”

The purpose of the brief is to highlight some of the strategies used to first identify, then to avoid, transfer, mitigate, and ultimately accept the risks associated with the procurement of IT products or services. Although not all risks can be identified, the goal should be to understand how much risk is associated with a specific IT procurement and what tools, processes, benchmarks, and methodologies are available to uniquely address IT procurement risks.

For more information and to view the issue brief, please visit www.NASCIO.org.