Thread: Georgia to outsource all state IT - non-US co's can bid

We need to keep an eye on this - the Governor is opening bidding to offshore providers.

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From CIO (www.cio.com)

http://advice.cio.com/stephanie_overby/ ... page=0%2C0


Wed, Dec 12, 2007 16:36 EST
Georgia Is Latest State to Outsource IT
Posted by: Stephanie Overby in News


Governor Sonny Perdue finally made it official: the state of Georgia will be outsourcing all of IT.

A comprehensive assessment of Georgia's IT services confirmed that the state's aging IT infrastructure faces challenges in meeting industry standards and could "create serious risk in providing critical services to more than nine million Georgians," Perdue said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Eleven state agencies currently do the bulk of Georgia's IT spending -- two-thirds of the total $617 million annual spend. Perdue plans to restructure the centralized Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) to address that situation first. The new GTA will then bring in IT services providers (plural) to bid on the IT services work. The outsourcing contracts (again, plural) will be awarded late next year.

According the Associated Press, Perdue indicated that he is ordering the change as chief executive rather than seeking legislation to enable it. (The Georgia legislature created the GTA, which became an official government office to oversee the planning, procurement and management of state government’s telecommunications, Internet and computer systems.)

A total of 1,100 state technology workers will be affected by the consolidation and outsourcing moves. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce will be eligible for retirement next year; their positions will disappear. Some employees will be shifted to the private companies who win the GTA contracts. And a total of 200 workers will be without a job.

The announcement likely came as little surprise to GTA employees. I'd heard a year ago from some GTA insiders that outsourcing was on the table. They weren't interested in discussing the plans publicly, for fear of hurting worker morale. So we went to the man at the top. In the CIO interview, Perdue discussed several IT-related issues as well as his plans for more transparency in state government (the latter of which met with varying levels of disbelief in the Georgia state political blogosphere.)

But when it came to whether Georgia would outsource the whole kit and kaboodle that is IT, Perdue remained someone coy (while still leaving himself open to sign IT services deals with abandon): "Georgia is better served with a balanced approach. I believe that GTA can be that internal consultant for IT solutions. From an operations standpoint, the private sector probably has the expertise and experience [to execute our ideas], as long as we know what we want. We do believe we have to retain some IT capability to make sure that we know what the capabilities of the technology are, so that we can put smart RFPs out on the street, and so we can be very clear in communicating what our expectations are. Frankly, I believe that public/private competition is perfectly OK. Whether our citizens can be better served by a public enterprise providing a service or by a private enterprise, they really don't care."

Georgia is not alone in the public sector in outsourcing IT services on a grand scale. Several states and municipalities have taken a stab at it, including Texas, Virginia, the city of Minneapolis, and the county of San Diego, with mixed results. And according to outsourcing consultancy EquaTerra, more will try. Public sector demand for private IT services will continue to grow as baby boomers retire and the sector struggles with attracting talent, says EquaTerra. Key words like "shared services" and "internal transformation" are already on the tongues of every IT services sales teams hoping to seal if offshore companies deals in the government sector.

It will be interesting to see how the situation in Georgia plays out. Will they take a multi-sourcing approach, some kind of IT services "consortium" a la General Motors? The wording of the governor's press statements tend to point in that direction. Or will Georgia end up taking the well-trod, but increasingly less popular single-provider route? And how steep will the learning curve be for the first-time outsourcers? If San Diego's experience is any indication, Georgia could be several deal generations away from getting a good handle on the outsourced environment. If they're smart, those remaining within GTA will heed the lessons of those who have gone before, in both the public and private sector, about making the transition and managing the relationships.

Meanwhile, having finally let the cat out of the bag on the outsourcing plans, Governor Perdue is keeping busy playing coy on another detail -- will any of this work go to an offshore IT services provider? James Salzer, who covers Georgia politics for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked the question, and Perdue said the bidding would not be limited local or U.S.-based providers. Said Perdue: "We're going to limit it to the people who can provide the best value to the citizens of Georgia." So... a definite maybe.



(Interesting side note: Four years ago, Perdue pulled the plug on an evern more ambitious $1.8 billion initiative (a.k.a. fiasco) to consolidate all state government telecommunications under a private contractor, which would have placed as many as 500 state employees on the outsourcer's payroll. The plan fell apart in the bidding process.)

GLOBALIZATION. He is being paid by someone to attack Georgia. This is what this is, an attack on Georgia.

Does this mean residents taxes will go down since Georgia is saving so much money?

I'd imagine taxes will go up, to cover unemployment, welfare, etc. for the taxpaying American citizens who will soon be jobless.

Don't ya love knowing your tax dollars are being shipped off to some foreign land, so that when you call for information, you get some thick-accented yahoo who just graduated from basic English lessons?

keep saying over and over and over and overf again. We need to stand together and QUIT PAYING OUR TAXES. We have a constitutional right to stop paying them until our government shapes up or ships out. Somehow that scares everyone to death. IF we ALL got together they couldn't penalize all of us.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

keep saying over and over and over and overf again. We need to stand together and QUIT PAYING OUR TAXES. We have a constitutional right to stop paying them until our government shapes up or ships out. Somehow that scares everyone to death. IF we ALL got together they couldn't penalize all of us.

Amen to that!

The state of Iowa outsourced most of the data processing years ago. I suppose that's another of those bills, passed somewhere that the governor knows nothing about and thoroughly disapproves of, that lets tax money be used to pay for foreign workers to do American jobs for less.

Governor Sonny Perdue finally made it official: the state of Georgia will be outsourcing all of IT.

I have this "gut feeling" that when Gov Perdue's term in office ends, he will not be able to work ever again in the state of Georgia. Maybe even in all of America. That would fitting.

I told you we have to watch this guy. Under Sonny, the middle class will die, but before they do, they will pay for all his crap.

Under Pedue, while talking a good game, Illegals have a major presence in every community, and are now major contributors to crime in Georgia.

My Geico Car Insur. just went up $120 a year, because of rampant uninsured motorists. I have perfect credit, perfect driving record. Guess who these uninsured are? But I saw them down at the tag office.

Slum Lords have been able to flourish. Hospitals are threatening to close due to debt, while we are already taxed to death for them.

Education is the worst in the US. I pay outrageous county taxes for the worst schools in the country, and they go up every year. the dropout rate is crazy. Even with the Lottery, Education is worse than ever. The teachers are stupid, and the school board is corrupt.

The police presence is next to nil. They are all policing housing projects and apartment complexes full of thugs. Crime and Car Theft is growing by leaps and bounds. Criminals hit whole subdivisions instead of a few houses.

Urban Sprawl, with absolutely no traffic management, no water resources, and no law enforcement and fire services to deal with it. Old Sonny talks growth to death, but does nothing to deal with the willy nilly growth. Atlanta used to be a nice city, now it is a traffic jam

Subdivision after subdivision has been built after leveling forest, when there has been plenty of empty housing for 5 years. Permits are granted at the drop of a hat. McMansions are ruining any neighborhood with character, because the city is so greedy for more tax money, to pay for the largest city government in the nation. That city government is ignorant and corrupt.

I'm very disappointed to find all of this out about our governor. I had kind of liked him before all of this came out.