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The Commonwealth of Virginia has earned two top honors from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ (NASCIO) State Information Technology (IT) Recognition awards. The awards celebrate the country’s leading government IT services, which include winning submissions from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and a joint initiative from the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the office of the Chief Data Officer.  

“Our information technology systems touch nearly every part of Virginians’ lives, including providing health data, voter registration information, access to drivers’ licenses and education capabilities,” said Governor Northam. “This year, in addition to sustaining vital connectivity across our government agencies as we respond to COVID-19, our IT teams have continued to innovate and expand new technologies to serve our Commonwealth. We are proud of their achievements and grateful for their dedication.”

 

“Virginia has built a remarkable legacy of national leadership in information technology and innovation. This recognition demonstrates our commitment to continuous advancement and sound stewardship of technological and data assets,” said Secretary of Administration, Dr. Keyanna Conner. “Connecting Virginians to essential government services through innovative methods and collaborative data-sharing will continue to drive future success.”

VITA won a top honor for its recent transition from a single-source service provider model to a multisupplier model, which has brought eight prime IT suppliers to Virginia state agencies. Virginia’s multisupplier model is one of only three of its kind in the nation. The program entitled Virginia: Pioneering a New Method of State IT Services Delivery won its category of Enterprise IT Management Initiatives.

 

“VITA’s multisupplier model of IT service delivery has provided Virginia with unparalleled ability to broker and build a diverse portfolio of IT services, adapt to an evolving marketplace and optimize Virginians’ return on technology investments,” said Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth and VITA agency head, Nelson Moe. “We appreciate our many partners and suppliers for their contributions to our collective success in Virginia.”

 

The Virginia Chief Data Officer’s team, along with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, earned top honors for their Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) data-sharing platform in the category of Cross-Boundary Collaboration & Partnerships. The platform was initially built to address the opioid epidemic, and has found valuable application in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“Our team’s platform integrates data sets across the Commonwealth to quantify patterns and trends in health, testing, justice, law enforcement, and social services to identify needed resources and preventative measures,” said Chief Data Officer of the Commonwealth, Carlos Rivero. “Our hope is to expand and interconnect these valuable data sets even more broadly to benefit more communities and save more lives.”

 

The NASCIO award program aims to recognize transformative projects that advance IT processes and optimize customers’ experiences. More information can be found in NASCIO’s announcement.