Serving People. Serving Colorado.
In collaboration with our state agency partners, we innovate and provide solutions that power the services Coloradans rely on every day. While we keep the state's IT assets secure and manage the tools state employees need to do their jobs, we are also focused on remediating technical debt, reimagining how we deliver IT and embarking on a multiyear journey to make Colorado's digital services the best resident experience in the country.
Mission
To provide secure digital services that put Coloradans first.
Vision
To make government easy.
Values
Integrity
We inspire trust by communicating with openness, honesty and authenticity.
Teamwork
We achieve more together by collaborating in a flexible and inclusive way.
Innovation
We challenge the status quo to identify new and better ways of doing things.
Service
We build collaborative and consultative partnerships to deliver optimal results.
Priorities
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Deliver Service Excellence
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Advance Technology
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Prioritize our People
History
The Governor’s Office of Innovation and Technology was created in 1999, and renamed Governor’s Office of Information Technology in July 2006, to serve as an advisory organization. At that time, executive branch agencies independently managed their own IT services and support, resulting in disparate infrastructures, inconsistent hardware and software standards, duplicative services, increased security risks, failing projects, and the inability to leverage statewide procurement opportunities.
The overwhelmingly bipartisan passage of Senate Bill 08-155 (“the consolidation bill”) shifted how IT services would be delivered to Colorado’s executive branch state agencies. In July 2008, IT functions, systems, personnel, and assets were consolidated into a single entity - the Governor’s Office of Information Technology. In many ways, the consolidation was much like a merger of 17 diverse companies, bringing with it significant challenges but also providing an extraordinary opportunity to plan, enable, and implement lasting change for the State of Colorado. This historic move challenged the status quo and created an enterprise IT organization that is leaner and more effective in delivering technology solutions and services.
Legislation
The Constitution of the State of Colorado is the foundation of the laws and government of the state. Within Colorado's Constitution are laws and statutes created through legislation by the Colorado General Assembly. The State’s commitment to ensuring a robust and modern information technology landscape has been embraced by all branches and levels of government. The Colorado General Assembly passed several important pieces of legislation in 2021, including bills that ensure the governance of information technology, increased investments in broadband infrastructure, increased accessibility to information technology, and greater protections for how personal identifying information and data is handled by the State.
Colorado Revised Statute Title 24 Article 37.5 creates and enables OIT to be the organization it is today. HB 21-1236 “State Information Technology” had bipartisan sponsorship by the Joint Technology Committee (JTC), unanimously passed by the Colorado General Assembly and was signed into law in June 2021 (pictured). The bill modifies the laws that create the JTC, the Colorado cybersecurity council and OIT, reflecting the current information technology environment and direction in the state.
- Learn more about OIT Enabling Statutes
- Learn more about the Joint Technology Committee
- Learn more about the Colorado General Assembly
Who We Serve
Our 1,000+ employees support ~31,000+ state employees at the executive branch agencies; 30,000+ county employees; and the 1,000+ state, local, county, federal and tribal agencies using our public safety communications network. Through this work, we ultimately serve all Coloradans. Learn more about the agencies we serve:
- Department of Agriculture (CDA)
- Department of Corrections (DOC)
- Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF)
- Department of Human Services (CDHS)
- Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE)
- Department of Local Affairs (DOLA)
- Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA)
- Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
WIG 1: Transform Technology in the State
The state is dependent on technology to deliver high-quality and accessible services to Colorado’s residents and businesses. As the state’s central technology provider, OIT needs to provide transparent, secure and effective products and services that meet customer needs. Many states, including Colorado, are being challenged by technical debt. Our aging infrastructure and multiple applications at or near end-of-life impede our ability to advance and transform the government services used by Coloradans across the state. Further, this can make our systems vulnerable to increased security threats. All of this results in OIT teams devoting large parts of their time on technical debt.
WIG 2: Expand Broadband Internet Access
The pandemic has made it increasingly clear that the broadband gaps across the state are real and perpetuate economic disparities. To accelerate Colorado’s economic recovery and continue to position Colorado as a top state to live and work in, we must invest in broadband infrastructure. Coloradans need access to affordable, reliable service, without data usage caps, and provided at speeds that are sufficient for a household with multiple users to simultaneously telework and engage in remote learning.
WIG 3: Advance Digital Government Services [In progress]
Providing access to critical and relevant public information, benefits, and services is the fundamental responsibility of government. Every person deserves a simple, seamless, and secure experience with the State of Colorado.
Currently, Colorado’s executive branch agencies collectively offer more than 1,200 services to its residents. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic many state services were disrupted and augmented to meet shifting demands of public health and safety. In response to these challenges, the Governor’s Office launched the Reimagine State Government initiative focused on innovation and service excellence.
OIT will continue to eliminate old, legacy systems and plan strategic investments in modern and emerging enterprise technology solutions, generating cost savings, increasing security and accessibility, and providing a more holistic, human-centered government experience for all people in Colorado.
To be a state that offers a best-in-class user or personal experience, Colorado needs to accelerate coordination and collaboration efforts to provide a simple, seamless, and secure way for its residents to access government benefits and services using modern technology.
Per a requirement outlined in HB21-1289, OIT is working with a consultant to create a digital government strategic plan that will help to 1) advance and innovate the state adoption of digital government services, 2) increase offerings for digital government services, and 3) maximize the value of the state’s broadband investment. This plan will include stakeholder and customer outreach and input, will review the current state of services being provided across state government, and will also include a strategic plan for the Colorado Broadband Office to help meet the previous goal. The plan will be completed by the end of August 2022 and will be used to update this WIG.
WIG 4: Increase Employee Engagement
We can all agree that 2020 and 2021 were difficult years. COVID-19, racial reckoning, increasingly serious cybersecurity threats and the “Great Resignation” all compete for employee attention, and many employees are in a sensitive place and burnt out. Simultaneously, OIT is working to transform the way we provide services, improve our internal processes and address technical debt that has been accumulating for years, in addition to the backlog of work that increased with COVID-19.
OIT's people and teams are critical to our shared success. Our employee engagement scores, EDI assessment results, retention rates and workforce research all point toward the fact that we need to make changes to support our people, avoid burnout, increase employee engagement and ensure there is a sense of belonging and inclusion at OIT. We work hard and care about our work. Without changes to our organizational culture, OIT will not be able to effectively meet customer needs or the goals set forth by the agency and OIT teams.