Board of Nursing Eyes $1.7M Technology Modernization Request

The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) is considering a $1.67 million technology modernization request as part of its Fiscal Year 2028-29 budget planning.

The board's proposal is one of BON’s refined exceptional item recommendations for its next Legislative Appropriations Request. Board staff said the updated items reflect additional planning since April, including refined cost estimates, updated staffing needs and new IT investments intended to strengthen cybersecurity, business continuity, long-term sustainability and support for agency growth.

The technology item would fund infrastructure replacement and recurring enterprise system costs. According to the board materials, three core servers and two storage devices will reach end of life in November 2027 and must be replaced to avoid system failure and loss of vendor support.

The request also includes a cloud-based disaster recovery solution intended to help the agency recover critical systems after a cyber incident, natural disaster, hardware failure or other disruption. Other components include records management through Laserfiche, website hosting and maintenance, enterprise software and VMware licensing and future support costs for an enforcement and education database.

The technology request is estimated at $910,000 in FY 2028 and $756,000 in FY 2029, for a total of $1.67 million. The largest first-year cost is $550,000 for server and storage replacement. The second-year cost includes $400,000 for ongoing vendor-hosted support for the enforcement and education database.

The board materials also identify about $5.6 million in federal funding through an interagency contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. That funding is expected to cover one-time development and deployment costs beginning in FY 2027, but it would not cover ongoing vendor hosting, maintenance, system support or future enhancements, according to the materials.

The board materials say the agency will continue coordinating with the Department of Information Resources on infrastructure replacement, enterprise software licensing and website hosting costs.

The proposed technology item is separate from a broader staffing request that also includes IT-related roles. The staffing proposal lists a cybersecurity analyst, data analyst and system support services specialist among the requested operations positions. The system support services specialist would support servers, network infrastructure, Microsoft 365, endpoint devices, user accounts, software deployment, cloud services and staff technical support.

The proposals are not solicitations and do not guarantee appropriations. They provide an early look at how the agency is shaping technology needs before formal submission to the Legislative Budget Board and the Office of the Governor's Budget and Policy Division.