Information technology effort 2.0

Talk about a major reboot.

In June 2011, the state raised expectations high on a long-overdue information technology overhaul when it appointed its first "state chief information officer." That CIO and his new Office of Information Management & Technology unveiled a jazzy 12-year transformation plan in 2012. Then a year later, they issued a request for proposals for an all-in-one solution vendor to undertake the "Statewide Unified Resource Framework," or SURF, initiative. Alas, after the state spent $11 million developing SURF specs, the vendor proposals turned out to be much too expensive, causing Gov. David Ige last month to scrap the holistic SURF and instead, try to restrategize upgrades incrementally.

Now, it’ll be up to Ige’s CIO-designate, Todd Nacapuy, working with state Comptroller Doug­ Murdock, to advance the much-needed modernization. Meanwhile, IT geeks can review the new "OIMT Internal Evaluation & Analysis, FY13-15" report (http://1.usa.gov/1JxmlKM), initiated by outgoing CIO Keone Kali, to glimpse the resizing of a grand vision.