California's Brawny IT Budget Not Easy To Tap

It's been a year-and-a-half since Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California--and many applaud a seeming emphasis on IT. But a decentralized government combined with continued financial woes could make tapping into the state's swollen IT budget of $2.7 billion a challenge.

California may have the largest IT budget of any state, but it's all relative, says James Krouse, manager of state and local market analysis at Input, a Chantilly, Va.-based research firm. "By virtue of size alone, the cards are stacked for California in terms of budget," he says. "But the state is not an aggressive creative thinker in terms of technology; in some cases, their systems are a mess."

VARs can attempt to get in on a few projects rolling out this year, however. The California Department of General Services, for one, has a $200 million procurement for enterprise Unix-based servers and storage devices, as well as a $90 million procurement for IT hardware and PC goods. In addition, the Health and Human Services Agency has a $10 million procurement for maintenance services, and the Department of Corrections has a $10 million procurement for installation and maintenance of telecommunications systems at various facilities statewide.

But, overall, many initiatives won't necessarily spell opportunity for the private sector. In fact, State CIO J. Clark Kelso notes he will rely on internal resources to implement the IT Strategic Plan, a top priority in 2005.

"Because California's systems...are decentralized, planning, implementing and operating enterprise solutions is very challenging in a state with very limited resources."