At last week's Texas Digital Government Summit*, TDCJ CIO Tina Clark talked about the challenges that delayed the project.
Clark heads up an IT team of 300 overseeing technology for 98 prisons and 70 offices. At Texas DGS, she reminded the audience that her agency is very conservative in spending, which caused it to pull back on the big-budget item during the COVID-induced 5 percent state budget rollback.
“We’ve developed a great relationship with lawmakers over the years because we’ve been conservative,” Clark said. “We received about $26 million for a video surveillance system a couple of sessions ago, and then the state went into a budget … reduction.”
In response, the agency gave back $10 million. Clark shared that leadership felt it was better to do this than to risk reduction in force.
Next, with supply chain interruptions and inflation, there wasn’t enough money or resources to continue the project.
Now, Clark said she's looking forward to seeing a comprehensive system in place after years of patchwork and non-uniform work.
With a look back, Clark advised that when planning a large project, IT must:
- Plan for contingencies
- Plan for a budget cushion
- Negotiate contracts so additional costs can be absorbed
On communicating needs and projects, she advised prioritizing needs, communicating with stakeholders and defending the staff vision. Stakeholders for TDJC include the agency’s 20 divisions, vendors and peer-to-peer groups within the state.
Notes on the system, according to a previous agency update:
- There have been multiple financial investments over time.
- The agency has 16,000 cameras across 23 maximum security facilities.
- The new system will require an outsourced maintenance contract.
- The system will have a six-year refresh cycle.
This year’s legislative session included supplemental appropriations for the department of $23.8 million “deferred maintenance for security projects,” but the document doesn’t explicitly state that this will be used for video surveillance.
*The Texas Digital Government Summit is put on by Government Technology, a sister publication to Industry Insider — Texas.
