Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va., Jeffrey Kelley Column
Sep. 25–SECRETARY OF TECHNOLOGY LEAVING LEGACY OF CHANGE: In less than four months, Eugene J. Huang will step down as the state’s secretary of technology. But at age 29, his career is just beginning.
Last week, Huang attended his final Commonwealth of Virginia’s Information Technology Symposium as the state’s top techie.
After four years in Richmond — on leave from pursuing his doctorate at Oxford University — Huang outlined his plan for the future of a digitized government, leading off a speech with a wholly Virginian remark.
“Just as Thomas Jefferson used quill pen and parchment paper to inspire a generation to launch a nation, we must use bits and bytes to unleash the power of the modern human spirit,” said Huang, the stage lights behind him making it look as though he was about to unveil the latest iPod.
Though there have been many players in Gov. Mark R. Warner’s quest for state technology reform — part of which created the Virginia Information Technologies Agency — Huang has been instrumental in his oversight and leadership.
The Warner administration has focused part of its tech overhaul on bringing a 700-mile fiber-optic network to thousands of homes and businesses in rural Southside Virginia.
The state has also cleared the way for a high-speed data network that will be used by Virginia’s research universities.
Warner said this week that he also wants health-care records available electronically, which could save millions in state medical spending.
But in one of the most sweeping changes, VITA is preparing to choose two proposals to outsource — ahem, “it’s a public-private partnership,” a grinning Huang interjects — the state’s IT operations to private companies.
By doing so, taxpayers could see their dollars go toward more important matters, as officials say tech costs will be cut by millions. The state spends about $1 billion annually on computers, software and other now essential equipment.
The goal is to settle on the two proposals — one for the hardware operations, the other for the software side — by sometime in November.
Last week during separate interviews, Huang and Warner gave the same reason for wanting to get the contractors signed as soon as possible: a one-term-only governor.
“Trying to make an operational change in a four-year time horizon is sometimes challenging,” Warner said Monday morning, minutes after giving his vision of the state’s technology needs to IT symposium attendees. “What happens if the next governor is not as tech-savvy? Well, he or she cannot undo what we started.”
Warner, who made his fortune in telecommunications, was the brains behind the creation of VITA, which was reluctantly passed by the legislature and got off to a wobbly start in July 2003. The agency consolidated about 90 state offices, and though it appears to be establishing itself, it continues to draw criticism from some state officials.
A recent survey by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission showed that 93 percent of consolidated agencies felt the transfer of staff members to VITA had a negative impact overall.
The government’s watchdog group concluded in its report that VITA needs to spend more time working with its agencies, and that a full transformation would be hard without full support of all involved.
Warner acknowledged the outcry last week, saying there have clearly been bumps. But in the long run, he said, the reorganization to common hardware and software systems is a more rational approach.
“Any company the size of Virginia would do exactly what we’re doing,” he said. “You won’t see the full benefit of this for a couple of years.”
Warner said the IT workers’ jobs would not be outsourced, but some jobs “may be moving to a rural part of the state — which, that’s great.”
The winner of the bidding war between the two companies on the hardware side of the proposal — IBM and Northrop Grumman — would build a backup data center, which acts as the brain to the state’s IT operations. There is hope that this facility would be in Southwest Virginia, creating jobs and boosting economic development in financially distressed regions.
A center there is a prospect that Southwest-born Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore likes. Democratic rival Timothy M. Kaine and independent H. Russell Potts Jr. say they support the overhaul of tech functions.
One hope for the progress for tech reform lies with the state’s chief information officer, Lemuel C. Stewart Jr., head of the 1,200-employee VITA. His five-year term will run well into the next administration.
As for Huang, who acknowledged challenges but gave his word on the promise of digital government, the next few months hold his 30th birthday in December and a running of the Boston Marathon in April.
He has ruled out future gubernatorial involvement, but did note:
“People ask me, ‘If the governor runs for president, are you going to be there?’ “
Huang’s response: “The governor has my phone number, and he knows how to reach me.”
Whatever his path, Huang will surely be remembered for his commitment to Virginia’s technology future.
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