The city, which spans 55.25 square miles, was established in 1896 after Julia Tuttle, an American businesswoman, and the city’s founders, William and Mary Brickell, persuaded Henry Flagler, the founder of Standard Oil, to extend his railroad to Miami.
Since then, the city has grown exponentially from 444 residents to 471,535 in 2023, placing it second in population behind Jacksonville. Below is more information about the city, including what tech projects are currently being worked on, who leads its Innovation and Technology Department and how many staff the city employs.
FAST FACTS
Budget: Estimated at $2.5 billion overall, with a $50 million IT budget, according to the Center for Digital Government.*
Leadership: Gee Chow is the city’s chief information officer, overseeing the Department of Innovation and Technology.
Staff: Miami has about 4,381 municipal employees, according to the city’s website.
How to Buy: The city’s purchasing department is responsible for acquiring all supplies, materials, equipment and services required by all city departments. All vendors must register online to do business with the city and can view purchasing threshold requirements here. Once registered, vendors can view solicitations and contracts on the city’s procurement page.
MORE ABOUT THE CITY’S TECHNOLOGY PLANS
According to the city’s Proposed Capital Budget for FY 2023-2024, the following innovation and technology projects are being worked on and require funding:
First is a $1 million backup of essential city mainframe functions. According to city documents, this would involve installing a new backup computer system for the city’s mainframe to allow critical functions to be quickly restored while the main system is relocated or repaired. This initiative is still in the planning phase and has not received funding yet.
Also in the planning phase is a $1 million backup of the city’s communications system, which would use a three-level approach to ensure the city can maintain an effective communication system following a disaster. Funding has yet to be allocated to this initiative.
As for funded projects, budget documents highlight the following:
- $800,000 to review the city’s information security strategy and security controls to identify vulnerabilities and gaps
- $500,000 to integrate a new enterprise system
- $500,000 to establish a centralized, cloud-based data store that accumulates critical business data from various systems
- $500,000 to replace Microsoft 7 computer equipment within the city’s IT department
- $470,000 to expand current enterprise backup to include a cyber recovery solution and provide protection for ransomware
- $450,000 to centralize critical information about businesses and their respective activities currently stored across various city systems
- $450,000 to improve and digitize processes related to business licensing
- $300,000 for a smart cities initiative
- $300,000 for a geographic information system implementation
- $280,000 to provide essential security capabilities to gain visibility and controls to protect cloud-based information assets and prevent the inappropriate use of specific applications
- $225,000 to detect users, devices, operating systems and applications that connect to the city’s network
- $220,000 to reduce risks of internal malware outbreaks from impacting city systems
- $210,000 for audit monitoring services to provide “needed redundancy and resilience to ensure availability and continuity services in case of hardware failure or other incidents that could affect a given component of the solution.”
- $190,000 to upgrade end-of-life critical components of the city’s security infrastructure
- $150,000 for modern technologies to reduce identity-related risks
- $140,000 for a hardware refresh to ensure the reliability of the city’s Oracle ERP
More information about these projects can be found online.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Industry Insider — Florida's parent company.
