Crawford, executive director and CIO of the Department of Information Resources (DIR), spoke out recently about the progress her department has made in recent years.
“DIR delivers the strategic thinking, purchasing power and policy insights necessary to help public entities meet mission-critical needs and ensure that their use of technology is secure,” she said at an Aug. 31 Industry Insider — Texas event.
She gave an unofficial update on DIR’s estimated 2021-2022 metrics and a brief reminder of how the agency operates.
“DIR operates in a federated system of mostly consolidated infrastructure that falls under our authority, yet each agency has its own CIO or IT director managing their applications, IT functions and staff,” Crawford said. “‘The Texas model,’ as DIR’s approach is called by other states, is generally considered the closest thing to privatized state IT in the country, and a model that other states are exploring for its success, efficiency, scalability and resiliency in the face of security and workforce challenges.”
DIR is funded through the legislative process with administrative fees and only receives general revenue for cybersecurity. DIR also creates revenue and has transferred about $35 million per year back to the state, totaling more than $141 million since 2019. The agency has also transferred back $20 million in general revenue by funding some cybersecurity work with money it generated.
The agency manages a technology cooperative program that includes about 800 contracts, and its use by out-of-state municipalities has grown to more than 556 — a 129 percent increase since 2019.
These contracts create a one-stop shop for DIR’s users to purchase various IT products and services, with a savings of about $1.4 billion for 3,900 Texas government entities. These entities made more than 4.2 million individual purchase transactions worth more than $3 billion during 2022, according to recent estimates.
Shared Technology Services (STS) programs provide competitively priced managed IT services to 521 participants, and the vendors are considered “best-in-class partners.”
Entities that are required to use DIR services and implement DIR policy are addressed in Texas Government Code Section 2054. These may be named as a:
- Department
- Commission
- Board
- Office
- Council
- Authority
- University or higher education institution
In addition, K-12 schools, community colleges and other states use DIR for purchasing and technology needs.
