Nebraska Information Technology Commission

June 16, 1998
William H. Thompson Alumni Center
University of Nebraska Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska

Members Present:
Lt. Governor Kim Robak, Chair	H. H. Kosman, Chairman & President, Platte Valley Financial Services, Scottsbluff
Greg Adams, Mayor of York	Gary Kuck, President & CEO of Centurion International, Lincoln
Eric Brown, GM of Station KRVN, Lexington	L. Dennis Smith, University of Nebraska President
Doug Christensen, State Education Commissioner	Joyce Wrenn, Chief Information Officer, Union Pacific Railroad
Members Absent:
U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey

Also Present:
Linda Aerni, NPPD/NCSW	Bill Miller, Division of Communications
Rod Armstrong, AIM	Shawn P. Nowlan, NE Leg Transportation
Dean Bergman, NDE	Tom Richards, Omaha Public Power District
Scott Danigole, Legislative Fiscal Office	Bill Tobin, UNL Mid-America Transportation Center
Tim Erickson, DAS-IDSD	David G. Wagaman, DAS-Budget
Roger Hahn, Nebraska Information Network	Alan Wibbels, ESU10, Kearney
Myrta R. Hansen, FUTUREKIDS Nebraska	Rob Wilson, NPPD
Chris Hoy, DAS/DOC	Michael Winkle, NET
Yvonne Norton Leung, Director Governor's Policy Research Office

The Nebraska Information Technology Commission meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. on June 16, 1998 with welcoming and opening remarks by Lt. Governor Robak. Following the call of the roll, the Chair determined that a duly constituted quorum was present.

It was moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Wrenn that the minutes of the NITC meeting as held on March 20, 1998 be approved as presented. Vote: Unanimous.

Update on LB924 was given by Lt. Governor Robak, who indicated the Nebraska Information Technology Commission is now a statutory body. Board members are appointed by the Governor and do not need Legislative approval. The major change of LB924 was an amendment determining that the three Councils (Government, Education and Community) were not statutory organization tools to be used.

The NITC Vision Statement was reviewed. It was moved by Commissioner Smith and seconded by Commissioner Kuck to adopt the Vision Statement. Discussion followed. It was moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Christensen to strike the first portion of the Vision Statement so that it now reads,

"To improve the quality of all Nebraskans regardless of location or income, it is the policy of the State that innovative uses of information technology be promoted in education, health care, economic development, and all levels of government services."

Roll call vote on amendment: Unanimous. Roll call vote on adoption of Vision Statement: Unanimous.

The NITC Mission Statement was next reviewed. It was moved by Commissioner Christensen and seconded by Commissioner Wrenn to accept mission statement as presented. Following discussion, the motion was withdrawn. It was moved by Commissioner Smith and seconded by Commissioner Christensen to adopt the Mission Statement as changed to read,

"The mission of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission is to make the State of Nebraska’s investment in information technology infrastructure more accessible and responsive to the needs of its citizens regardless of location while making government, education, health care and other services more efficient and cost effective."

Roll call vote: Unanimous.

Lt. Governor Robak reported the three councils were organized under LB924 and are presently functioning. However, it is now necessary to reaffirm the make-up of the three councils. It was moved by Commissioner Christensen and seconded by Commissioner Brown to recreate the three councils as originally constituted. Motion carried unanimously. A written report from each council will be required.

Yvonne Norton-Leung presented the Government Council report. She reported that the Council meets once a month with their criteria on web page. A high priority of this Council is collaboration among state agencies and determining that enterprise goals are met according to allocation of resources. New programs need process for approval. The budget process looks at all resources. The Government Council is putting together a legal work group that will meet for the first time this week. Other issues being reviewed are the highway right-of-way; GIS flood map plan with the National Resource Division reviewing environmental features, flood plains, building codes, and evaluation of property/land.

The Education Council report was given by Alan Wibbels. He asked for direction from the NITC Board to take back to the Education Council regarding their role and responsibilities. Considerable discussion resulted regarding the NITC Proposal for Funding for Education Projects Document and the NITC Project Risk Assessment Document for Education. Items discussed were the need to train teachers to teach/staff development plan; the need to develop appropriate requirements and certification in the use of technology. The discussion emphasized the NITC role in the development of statewide infrastructure; the need to have a plan for allocation of state funds; the use of a risk assessment document in the evaluation process; the need for infrastructure planning and development to be properly coordinated. The role of the Education Council was seen as a body not to control but to coordinate and facilitate. The staff of NITC should work with the education council to leverage needs and best practices through a clearinghouse. It was also discussed how the technical review panel’s work would report recommendations to the Education Council not NITC. Following the Education Council’s assessment of all education sector budget submissions, a prioritized list should be presented to the NITC. Lt. Governor Robak indicated that whenever a request is made for new state dollars, it should be mandatory for that entity to complete a form in order for the request to be accepted by the Legislature. The process should include 1) a technical review for new infrastructure, 2) risk assessment, and 3) education council priorities. The charge to the Education Council is how to facilitate, not regulate. It was recommended that the Proposal Document should be revised as follows: 1) make it simple, 2) make it reflective of present administrative requirements, 3) be need-based, not technology driven, 4) be neutral , and 5) should emphasize collaborative strategies.

Regarding questions/issues raised by the Education Council; the process for getting a project approved should be up to the Education Council, with the intended scope being that proposals should be reviewed if they involve new state funding or in some way impact the state infrastructure. A detailed discussion on analog and digital technologies took place and was set aside until statewide standards could be addressed.

The NITC took a break at 3:15 p.m. and reconvened at 3:35 p.m.

The Community Council report was next presented by Chris Hoy. Draft criteria for Community Technology Fund was submitted for review, indicating that details of LB 144 was incorporated into the criteria. The LB144 model will be included as a link on the web page. It was moved by Commissioner Adams and seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the draft criteria as submitted. Following discussion, roll call vote was unanimous. It was suggested that the Community Council interact with the Education Council. Each council chair or representative is invited to attend meetings of each of the three councils.

Lt. Governor Robak indicated that she was recommending that Michael Winkle be apppointed to a half time position as NITC Executive Director. Following the passage and signing into law of LB924, the NITC recommended that the Lt. Governor proceed with hiring an Executive Director pending final approval of the NITC at the June, 1998 meeting. It was moved by Commissioner Kuck and seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the appointment of Michael Winkle as the NITC Executive Director. Roll call vote: Unanimous. Lt. Governor Robak also indicated that Bill Miller as been appointed as the interim State Chief Information Officer.

Bill Miller reviewed the following NITC actions. Required on or before September 15 are guidelines, minimum technical standards, adoption of schedules and procedures and submission of an NITC budget request. Deadlines by November 15, 1998 are making prioritized state technology investment recommendations and submitting a progress report to the Governor and Legislature. By July 1, 1999 and each July thereafter, it will be necessary to adopt policies and procedures used to develop, review and annually update a statewide technology plan. He also indicated that an Administrative Assistant and two technical managers will be hired and officed on the second floor of the Executive Building.

Bill Miller next reviewed the statewide information technology infrastructure plan, indicating that included into this plan is information regarding Internet 2. Bill Miller then presented an update of NITC action items as follows: technology plan update; NITC management procedures; mission statement; technical policies/standards/protocols; risk assessment documents for the IRC; technology information clearinghouse; transponder replacement; interstate fiber optic in the right-of-way; one stop government proposal; existing governmental entities in the information technology arena; charge to councils; selection of executive director for the NITC; NITC meeting with telecommunications providers; map of fiber optic communications cable from all providers; briefing from University of Nebraska on Omaha’s Information Sciences Technology and Engineering College; outsourcing information technology economic development; NITC project planning guidelines; and a review of Union Pacific IT principles.

The draft document for Request for Information for public/private partnership in the development of communications infrastructure was next reviewed. Commissioner Wrenn submitted a memo with suggestions that included pertinent information to be included into the RFI. Following discussion, it was the consensus of the NITC to move forward with the RFI process.

Walter Weir, Assistant Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Director of Information Services at the University of Nebraska gave a presentation regarding architecture and standards. NITC has an obligation to set standards by September 15th which necessitates development of a process for step-by-step architectural standards. Discussion followed regarding restrictions of analog system compared to efficiency of digital. Factors to consider are: analog less expensive but could be obsolete in 5 years; analog has less reliability; maintenance factors; a need to open the process for input from others regarding analog/digital technology; support from private sector to technical review panel; bandwidth needs, costs and considerations from all sectors. Commissioners Joyce Wrenn and Greg Adams were asked to work with Walter Weir, Bill Miller and Michael Winkle to help NITC meet the September 15th deadline. Prospective process will be posted on the discussion section on the NITC web page. Commissioners Wrenn and Adams will review and authorize process suggestions, thereby allowing the staff to present recommendations to NITC for broader discussion at the next NITC meeting.

Michael Winkle reported on the Information Clearinghouse and plans to share information and requirements with working groups. Funding from LB924 will allow the Help Desk to become operational from 8-5 Monday through Friday. The optimal goal would be to extend the Help Desk hours to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturdays until 5 pm. NET will investigate ways to temporarily use existing staff to extend available hours. Michael Winkle indicated the clearinghouse web page will begin development in early July or as soon as new NITC staff is in place.

Lt. Governor Robak requested a demonstration of the web site clearinghouse. She also requested information regarding purchasing and how to aggregate purchases through the Clearinghouse. Michael Winkle indicated that information will be posted as developed. State grants available for various projects will be listed via the Clearinghouse.

New business items were next discussed. Instructions for the NITC budget will go out the end of June and will be due by September 15th. The budget will be presented at the next NITC meeting.

Bill Miller provided a list of IT Agencies within state government.

Lt. Governor Robak requested establishment of a Provider Group to meet regarding standards and architecture prior to next NITC meeting.

The criteria for Government Technology Collaboration fund which applies only to governmental agencies was next reviewed. It was moved by Commissioner Kosman and seconded by Commissioner Brown to adopt the criteria as presented. Roll call vote: Unanimous.

The next NITC meeting will be scheduled the week of September 7th in Lincoln. Michael Winkle will determine best date and notify the NITC accordingly.

It was moved by Commissioner Brown and seconded by Commissioner Wrenn to adjourn the meeting at 5:45 p.m. Vote: Unanimous.

Meeting Minutes