The department recently highlighted these initiatives in a press release, in which DMS Secretary Pedro Allende said, “These achievements demonstrate the incredible strides we can make when bold leadership meets innovative thinking.”
“Through Governor [Ron] DeSantis’ vision,” Allende added, “team DMS has leveraged technology and partnerships to strengthen the state’s infrastructure, safeguard digital assets and elevate service delivery for Floridians.”
Below are a few of the department’s initiatives, broken down by category:
DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
- The Division of Telecommunications added Starlink satellite services to SUNCOM’s catalog to provide reliable connections to areas affected by disasters.
- The Division of State Human Resource Management built a centralized hub to distribute critical workforce-related information and resources to agencies regarding disaster planning and response.
- The Division of Real Estate Development and Management broke ground on the State Emergency Operations Center to help bolster Florida’s prevention, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
- The divisions of state purchasing and specialized services procured and managed a combined 301 missions for security, cleaning and commodities, with expenditures totaling $20.5 million.
SUPPORTING FLORIDA’S WORKFORCE
- After HB 5101 was enacted, the divisions of State Group Insurance and People First worked with staff from 28 colleges to transition the Florida College System to the state group health insurance program.
- The Division of State Human Resource Management developed an in-house software tool to streamline reclassification and reorganization requests within the State Personnel System, reducing processing times by 73 percent.
- The Division of Telecommunications submitted 42 applications on behalf of 34 customers requesting $9.2 million in E-rate funding for schools and libraries in fiscal year 2024-2025.
CYBERSECURITY LOGGING AND DATA CLEANUPS
- “Purchasing solutions for the Local Government Cybersecurity Grant Program at scale generated millions in savings compared to market prices,” according to DMS’ press release.
- The Florida Digital Service led a group of 26 agencies in a cybersecurity logging initiative that identified 44 percent cost avoidance through at-scale purchasing.
- Enterprise agreements negotiated by the Division of State Purchasing provided state agencies with an average cost savings of 50 percent for commodities and contractual services versus market retail rates.
- The Division of Retirement conducted a data cleanup of over 500,000 non-retired member records. The review identified 39,582 verifiable deceased members. A separate review of approximately 35,000 retired members identified and prevented benefit overpayments to approximately 1,500 deceased members.
PROTECTING FLORIDIANS’ DATA
- The Florida Digital Service hosted the second year of the Local Government Cybersecurity Grant Program, procuring $23 million in licenses and executing 173 grant agreements to equip local governments with critical security solutions.
- Twelve agencies joined data cataloging efforts, and 33 agencies have engaged the Enterprise Data Committee to further data interoperability.
- The Florida Digital Service published a prohibited applications list to protect against applications of concern that could be used to steal state information, eavesdrop and collect data on Floridians and state government.
- Mission partners, including the Department of State, the Department of Law Enforcement, the Division of Emergency Management, and the Florida Digital Service, collaborated to ensure a secure election by gathering actionable intelligence and providing detailed threat and intelligence products to state, local and federal entities.
BUILDING A COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE
- MyFloridaMarketPlace, the state’s online procurement system, processed 141,612 purchase orders for a total spend of $5.9 billion.
- Contract Management met with more than 317 contractors, increasing the total number of enterprise contracts to 858.
- DMS training enabled more than 1,200 contract managers and contract negotiators to receive certifications and manage procurements.
