08/13/2008

Associated Press

Oregon lawmakers who listened to reports of planning flaws in the state's $64 million computer center say increased oversight of future technology projects is in order.

The center, built in 2005, houses computer operations for major state agencies but was troubled early on by a rushed schedule, incomplete planning and unproven forecasts of cost savings.

The Oregon House's Technology Committee heard all about it Tuesday.

Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and other committee members said it will help them ask better questions about projects such as a statewide emergency communication system that started with a $650 million price tag.

Rep. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, said legislators don't want to be holding similar hearings about the emergency system in five years.

Rep. Chuck Riley, the Hillsboro Democrat who heads the committee, said the 2007 Legislature added funding for an information technology expert in the Legislative Fiscal Office, which advises the Legislature.

Bob Cummings, a staffer with 40 years of information technology and state government experience, started that job this year.

He told the committee that he reviewed the data center's history and performance and found that, problems aside, it is sound.

He said there have been cost saving but that they are hard to identify, in part because of incomplete information about what agencies' costs were before the center's construction.

The hearing followed a state Audits Division report critical of the data center project.

It said important consolidation objectives had not been achieved, making it unlikely that large savings would occur.

Cummings and other witnesses said holes in the planning included: starting the project without a detailed inventory of agencies' computer needs; moving forward without first hiring an administrator; and building the center without detailed plans for what would go inside.

Mark Reyer, the data center's administrator, said the center has started consolidating computer equipment to save money and energy.

The center has eliminated hundreds of computer servers and is reducing by another four to five servers a week, he said.

By the end of this year, Reyer plans to have consolidated three mainframe computers down to one while consolidating 54 midrange processors to four.

Reyer said 140 employees are doing the work at the center that would normally take 260 workers under average state government staffing.

"In my book, they're the heroes of all this," Reyer told the committee.

Reyer urged lawmakers not to move forward until future costs have been verified.

Neal Weatherspoon, a state auditor who managed the data center audit, told legislators real savings would come from reductions in staff, and those have not occurred.

___

Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com