Virginia Is For Outsourcing

摘要

State cios are in a jam. Like their private-sector counterparts, most are trying to deliver new applications and services and modernize aging IT infrastructures on no-frills budgets. Yet, political considerations rule out a cost-cutting tactic widely employed elsewhere: offshore outsourcing. Virginia says it has an answer, one that could serve as a model for other states. Virginia last week became the first state to hand over the bulk of its IT operations to one vendor through a 10-year outsourcing agreement that will pay defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. more than $2 billion. The deal, if approved by state legislators, is designed to save the state $200 million, upgrade its IT systems, spur economic development and IT education, and save state tech workers' jobs.