State Health Services Requests $250M IT Budget for 2026-27

The Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has requested $250 million for IT-related expenses in its Fiscal Year 2026-27 legislative appropriations request.

According to the request, the agency requires $102 million for IT capital budget items, $71 million for agency-wide IT projects, $50 million for IT program support and $28 million for IT exceptional items. Of the $71 million requested for agencywide IT projects, $65 million has been budgeted for professional fees and services.

IT exceptional items in the request include $25.1 million for data center services, $9.9 million for modernizing child health data and $2.5 million for seat management.

The agency’s IT capital budget request is approximately $10 million less than DSHS was granted for equivalent items in the General Appropriations Bill (HB 1) for FY24-25.

The following information resource items are included in the capital budget request:

• $29 million for information resource technology acquisitions
• $65 million for data center consolidation
• $8 million for cybersecurity

Notable capital budget items include $4.1 million for Texas STD TB HIV AIDS Reporting and Response System enhancements and $3.3 million for National Electronic Disease Surveillance System enhancements.