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Below is a list of projects that benefit from these funds.
Earmarked in the state budget is $1.1 million in 2024 and $2.9 million in 2025 to develop a new e-procurement solution. DIR is responsible for providing state agencies and other public entities with IT guidance and solutions to accelerate service delivery. The problem, according to the agency’s original exceptional item request, is that its “current procurement system was not developed to support modern contracting needs and lacks the scalability necessary to support customer demand — both from a capacity and capability perspective.” The requested funds would allow the agency to switch to a more streamlined and modern e-procurement solution.
Also allocated to the agency is $1 million in 2024 and $1.9 million in 2025 to modernize its vendor sales reporting portal. As its name suggests, vendors can submit their completed sales to DIR customers on a monthly basis through the portal as required by their cooperative contract agreements. The issue is that the portal is a legacy application more than 14 years old and was last updated seven years ago. As a result, technical outages have challenged DIR’s ability to collect sales reports. The agency plans to use these funds to replace the portal.
Other notable budget allocations include:
- $435 million in 2024 and $407 million in 2025 for shared technology services
- $105 million in 2024 and $108 million in 2025 for communications technology services
- $52 million in 2024 and $48 million in 2025 for texas.gov
- $52 million in 2024 and $48 million in 2025 for security services
- $3.2 million in 2024 and $3.3 million in 2025 for data center consolidation
- $1.4 million in 2024 and 2025 for statewide planning and rule and guideline development
More information about the state’s budget can be found online.