California’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety has asked the Legislature for funding and staff to replace resources that are expiring this budget cycle.
In a budget change proposal filed in mid-May, the organization asked for roughly $2.5 million for nine full-time positions and $500,000 to support essential maintenance and operations and information security contracts.
The lion’s share of the money will fund two IT managers (one of whom will serve as department CIO) and seven IT specialists of varying classes. The duties overseen by these new positions have been handled by term employees, retired annuitants and limited-term funded contracted staff.
“Without replacing these resources with permanent staff, Energy Safety will not be able to meet the workload requirements and the risk of network security breaches and network downtime will increase significantly,” the BCP reads.
The contracts Energy Safety is looking to maintain include application maintenance and operational support services and the Information Security Resident Services contract, which provides critical cybersecurity services.
“Maintaining the contract in conjunction with these positions will reduce operational risk, help ensure service levels are met, and allow internal resources to focus on core functions while leveraging contracted services for specialized and high-risk support,” the request reads.
For the uninitiated, the office was created in 2021 to police electrical utilities around infrastructure-related wildfire prevention. Industry Navigator* puts its total budget at more than $44.6 million, with an estimated $1.6 million dedicated to IT spending.
*Industry Navigator is a product of e.Republic, Industry Insider — California's parent company.
Energy Safety Asks for Millions to Close IT Staffing Gap
The California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety needs money and staff to close what it calls “mission-critical support gaps” that are being supported by expiring resources.
