FDOT Briefs Lawmakers on Cloud Modernization

The Florida House of Representatives IT Budget and Policy Subcommittee recently met to discuss several agencies’ cloud modernization efforts, including the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).

Trey Tillander, the department’s executive director of transportation technology, spoke on behalf of the agency, detailing some of its latest work on cloud modernization, primarily focusing on FDOT’s cloud program.

Tillander started the discussion by explaining the agency’s IT program: “Every system we develop directly supports our mission of providing a safe and efficient transportation system to Floridians. To give you an idea of the size and scope of our IT program, we have over 25 million lines of code on the mainframe at Northwest Regional Data Center, and this represents a great opportunity to move these technology assets to the cloud.”

The oldest line of code on the mainframe is a subroutine written in 1975, according to Tillander.

Other agency-related tech includes 274 servers, 225 of which are located at the Northwest Regional Data Center, plus 3,300 technology assets, which service 16,000 users, he explained.

As for FDOT’s approach to the cloud, Tillander said the agency “has the fourth largest cloud need amongst all agencies.”

As a result, the agency launched its modernization and cloud program in 2019. In 2023, the agency submitted 94 applications for cloud assessment, with 10 of those apps receiving funding in January 2024.

Each project was evaluated and prioritized based on several factors, Tillander said, including the system’s level of effort and complexity and what it would take to modernize systems based on technical, financial and timing perspectives.

Currently, “PALM remediation is Florida DOT’s top priority this year, and it’s taking a lot of resources, so we came up with a strategy with our cloud modernization efforts for our financial systems to wrap those around the PALM timeline,” Tillander explained.

PALM refers to Florida’s Planning, Accounting and Ledger Management Project, which aims to streamline financial management across all state agencies by January 2026.

Aside from PALM, the agency is also working on three other modernization projects.

“Our most critical ongoing modernization effort is the electronic estimate disbursement or EDD application,” Tillander said. “It’s an ICE-supported COBOL application. This application processes over 50,000 payments to vendors annually with a value in excess of $5 billion on average. That’s $45 million daily in prompt payments that EDD facilitates for the design, construction inspection, and maintenance of our transportation infrastructure projects.”

An application called the Materials Acceptance Certification (MAC) program is also being developed to protect the public’s investment in transportation.

“This system manages FDOT’s construction, materials and products, testing, acceptance and certification process,” Tillander said. “Mac ensures that Florida state’s roads and bridges are built with safe and quality materials.”

Lastly, the agency is working on an application to help the department meet its goal of protecting the public’s investment in bridges. Currently, FDOT maintains over 7,000 bridges and inspects up to 13,000 bridges.

In the end, Tillander said, the connection between all three projects is cybersecurity and cloud modernization.

“Cloud platforms offer advanced security features that provide enhanced data protection and improve regulatory compliance,” Tillander said. “This is critical because many of the transportation infrastructure assets, like bridges and seaports, have national security implications.”

More information about FDOT’s transportation technology efforts can be found online.