LANSING – A proposal to update Michigan’s oldest, but most critical information technology systems, during the next five years was outlined Tuesday before the two legislative general government appropriations subcommittees.

The proposal, made to the two subcommittees, by Chief Information Officer David Behen, accompanied an outline of the final report on Michigan’s IT status and need from the Connecticut-based consulting firm, Gartner.

Governor Rick Snyder had asked for $50 million in the 2012-13 budget to begin the process to upgrade and modernize the system. So far the Senate has proposed approving $48 million for the start of the multi-year project.

Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) told Behen, “We’ll be seeing a lot of you,” as the state moves ahead with the proposal.

And Sen. Mark Jansen (R-Gaines Twp.) said the state has to remember that some legislators will feel burned when dealing with the subject. As the former chair of the House Appropriations Human Services Subcommittee, Mr. Jansen said there were several times when the state spent huge sums to rework systems, only it seemed to be told the systems needed reworking again.

The state’s history is rather “sketchy,” on this subject, he said.

That study, by Snyder’s administration, found that Michigan had not spent as much as other states on its IT systems, averaging 1 percent where most states spent 3 percent.

Paul Denvir of Gartner and Behen also said the state had some 400 legacy IT systems, using dozens of computer languages, including one of the oldest, FORTRAN.

Michigan had been ahead of the curve in terms of centralizing many IT functions (as part of decisions that go back as far as former Governor John Engler), the Gartner report said. But it had not kept pace with other states in terms of spending per state worker, although ironically it was spending more in terms of total cost because it used more contractors.

“From a strategic and operational execution standpoint, the state of Michigan has performed well in reacting to customer needs with the resources it has, but has significant opportunity to transform its composition, processes and execution to improve its efficiency and effectiveness,” the Gartner report said.

The report was being posted online on Tuesday, Behen said.

The proposal outlined is one the state views as essential to help make government more efficient, more responsive to its citizens and more cost efficient, Behen said.

The top priority among the critical projects the state wants to update is the MAIN system, which handles state government’s accounting. The system is 17 years old, and Behen said replacing the system would cost an estimated $100 million and take about five years.

Also considered critical to replace is the 30-year old sales, use and withholding tax system in the Department of Treasury, estimated to cost $23.3 million and take three years to replace; the 17-year old individual income tax system, estimated to cost $28.7 million to replace in three years; and finally the electronic health record system used by the departments of Community Health, Corrections and Military and Veterans Affairs, and expected to cost $13.6 million and take two years to replace.

After those critical needs, the state has three high priority projects, which are replacing the corrections management information system for $6 million, replacing the 25-year old workers’ compensation system for $5 million, and replacing the state’s liquor control system for an estimated $8 million.

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