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December 2021
Volume 20, Number 12
From the CIO
CIO Nelson Moe
The end of 2021 is upon us! With Christmas and New Year’s just around the corner, this is a time to spend with friends and family, and also reflect on what you accomplished this year both personally and professionally.
Here at the Virginia IT Agency (VITA), we’ve had a banner 2021, and are noting a number of successes. Starting in January, with baseline performance metrics set for our new multisupplier business model in 2020, we tracked an overall increase in customer satisfaction of 190% over a 12-month period. Customer dissatisfaction decreased 37% during this time.
In February, we launched our new customer-focused external website. It features optimized navigation, enhanced accessibility features and data-driven presentation of content to help customers find what they need in an easier and faster manner. The website design easily translates across all platforms, whether customers are using a computer or mobile device.
June marked the awarding of a first-in-the-nation contract for the public sector offering Commonwealth agencies options to choose Microsoft or Google platforms for email and other messaging services. The $82.5 million contract was awarded to NTT DATA, Inc. for five years, with several optional extensions.
In July, we launched the country’s first public sector, end-to-end service offering of robotic process automation (RPA). The RPA service offering, powered by industry partner UiPath, opens expanded potential for efficient and modernized processes across a wide range of essential statewide operations. The innovative technology provides automation of repeatable, manual business processes to ensure accurate results and optimized time, human effort and technical resources.
September brought about the awarding of a five-year contract to Computer Aid Inc. (CAI) for the Commonwealth’s information technology contingent labor (ITCL) program. The contract provides an easy and quick way for public bodies to access quality IT labor resources. The program also offers opportunities for small, women-owned and minority-owned (SWaM) businesses to compete for Commonwealth business. SWaM suppliers make up 35% of the program’s subcontractor network that provides resources to state agency customers. During the current contract period, SWaMs have been awarded 50% of the overall contract spend.
And in October, we were part of a big win at the National Association of State Chief Administrators (NASCA) 2021 Innovations in State Government Awards. The Commonwealth of Virginia earned the award for customer service and experience for the launch of innovative, digital customer service portals for Virginians seeking government services through the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. We collaborated with the offices of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and Secretary of Administration to create the portals, which collect requests ranging from restoration of civil rights to board appointments, and have streamlined hundreds of thousands of process requests for residents of the Commonwealth.
We are so proud of our work this year -- work that is made possible by collaboration with our partners all across and outside the Commonwealth. We are so thankful for all that you do as we come together to better serve the citizens of Virginia, and we look forward to a fantastic 2022!
Nelson
Save time and learn valuable information with VITA’s new high-risk solicitations and contracts webpage!
Looking for access to forms for high-risk solicitations and contracts? Want information on developing performance metrics and enforcement provisions? Wish you could save some time?
If the answer is yes to any of the above, VITA’s procurement team has you covered. In an effort to better serve our customer agencies, we’ve launched a new high-risk webpage to help agencies quickly and easily find answers they are looking for when preparing high-risk solicitations and contracts.
The new webpage includes FAQs and a list of resources, including general information, tools, training videos and information on cloud procurements. These resources walk you through the preparation and review process for high-risk procurements.
Don’t forget! Agencies should email scminfo@vita.virginia.gov to notify VITA of an upcoming high-risk procurement and to request assistance. We are also available if you have questions or need additional information.
New training videos to clarify procurement submission and review processes
Here’s more on the above-mentioned training videos developed by VITA procurement. The three training videos aid our customers in their understanding of the submission requirements and review process for major projects, cloud and high-risk information technology (IT) procurements.
Associated materials are now available on the VITA website and cover the following topics:
- VITA review process: This video focuses on VITA’s delegated thresholds, the IT governance groups involved in the review process, submission requirements and process steps for major projects, cloud and high-risk IT procurements.
- Cloud procurements and the enterprise cloud oversight service (ECOS) process: This video defines cloud-based solutions and outlines the steps in the ECOS process including the steps to follow for request for proposals (RFPs) with cloud-based solutions and how to award a cloud contract with or without an RFP.
- Performance measures: This video provides insight into drafting clear and distinct performance metrics, enforcement provisions and remedies, including how they work together to make a strong contract. It also covers examples of compliant and noncompliant performance measures to help our customers when creating their contract performance measures.
These procurement training videos further VITA’s mission of being a customer-focused technology partner by providing exceptional service and resources to support our customers and their business needs.
New RFS customer experience improvement process
VITA is piloting a new customer experience program focusing on improving the agency experience using experience level agreements (XLAs). The first initiative will be the request for solution (RFS) – general requirements request process. XLAs are a reimagining of service level agreements (SLAs) that focus on what is most important to the customer. While SLAs usually focus on operations and outputs, XLA targets emphasize end-user-centric metrics, using experience indicators (XIs) to focus on the perceived quality of IT services and support. Ultimately, XLAs measure performance in outcome and value terms.
As discussed in the agency IT resource (AITR) meeting on Nov. 10, the introduction of XLAs is being piloted with the RFS process. In October, VITA engaged the relationship management committee (RMC) and RFS tiger team workgroup participants to participate in virtual interview surveys. From these surveys, we heard overwhelmingly that more up-front collaboration is needed. To address this need, VITA initiated a pilot for agencies entering a RFS, who had the opportunity to attend a joint meeting with their business relationship manager (BRM) and the solutions architect to review and validate the RFS requirements together
As of Nov. 29, these meetings will be required before the RFS can move forward in the process. The VITA XLA team will be following up with customers and will make continuous improvements.
Reboots required for PCs that have deferred reboots and have not rebooted in the last 30 days
To improve security compliance and prevent personal computers (PCs) from displaying as a vulnerability in compliance reports, weekly reboots will occur on Fridays and will have an eight-hour countdown (480 minutes).
The PC can be rebooted at any time during the countdown. When the countdown reaches zero, the PC will initiate the reboot process. This process will be put into production beginning Dec. 3.
Data center move: Retirement of extranet/internet IPs
As part of the data center move, the extranet and internet IPs from the CESC data center were migrated to the new QTS data center to minimize outages for IBM mainframe users and localities.
This is a temporary solution to provide member agencies and localities the opportunity to migrate to the new QTS data center IPs after the network swing. VITA’s intent is to retire and remove the CESC static IPs by Dec. 31.
Please reach out to mainframeinfo@vita.virginia.
COV/AUTH Okta application integration is now live
To improve collaboration for agencies and their AUTH domain counterparts, external AUTH domain users can now access COV applications using OKTA’s single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA). This service can be ordered via the service catalog on the VITA Service Portal.
Note: Agency permission is required.
SSO eliminates the need to enter credentials separately each time a web application is opened. If users are accessing the application from their COV-connected computer, their credentials are automatically verified, and access is permitted without any username or password prompts.
Review the FAQs on this service.
Changes made to agency processes for managing accidentally damaged devices
Effective immediately, VITA’s end-user services supplier will follow guidelines provided by the original equipment manufacturers to determine if a device has been accidentally damaged.
Accidentally damaged devices are reported via a VITA customer care center (VCCC) incident ticket. If the damages are not covered under warranty, agencies will be contacted via email regarding options for the repair or replacement of the device.
Zoom for Government now available
Zoom for Government is now available for agencies to order through the VITA service catalog. Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing service that enables users to virtually meet with others either by video, audio-only or both.
VITA is offering the Zoom for Government (authorized for use by federal agencies) version that allows agencies to share and discuss sensitive data (FedRAMP compliant IL2).
For a complete list of standard features and capabilities, click here.
For more information, please reference the Zoom FAQs (KB0018504) via the VITA knowledge base.
Live training and Zoom team support will be provided to agencies once they subscribe to Zoom.
Project management guideline updated
A new Information Technology Resource Management (ITRM) document Commonwealth Project Management Guideline (CPM 110-05) has been published to VITA's ITRM Policies, Standards and Guidelines.
The project management division has rewritten the project management guidelines of Sept. 21, 2017. As a result of the implementation of Planview Enterprise 1, changes in procedures, implementation of automated approval workflow and availability of new tool sets such as Planview ProjectPlace and LeanKit have prompted the need to rewrite the document and bring it up to date.
Information Security Tips
Stress less this holiday season with smart shopping tips
This month’s edition of Information Security Tips looks at the best ways to remain vigilant and be aware of the cyber risks while shopping online. While legitimate businesses are after your money, so are cybercriminals. We have some cybersecurity tips that will make your online shopping experience less risky, not to mention keep you in the spirit of the season and safer from those on the “naughty list.”