March 2015 
In This Issue:
Top Stories
Nominations are Open for the 2015 State IT Recognition Awards!


Important Dates:

March 19

Visit the NASCIO 2015 Awards page  for details on how to submit a nominee for the 2015 State IT Recognition Awards. New categories have been added this year.


June 1
Nominations are due. All guidelines are listed on the awards page of the website.


To submit information for the next edition, contact Meghan Penning , NASCIO Connections editor.
Events of Interest
2015 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit
March 23-24, 2015
Baltimore, Md.

National Association of State Procurement Officials 2015 How to Market to State Governments Meeting
March 29-31, 2015
Philadelphia, Pa.

HIMSS15 Annual Conference and Exhibition 
April 12-16, 2015
Chicago, Ill.

National Association of State Technology Directors Midwestern Region Seminar
April 13-16, 2015
Des Moines, Iowa

National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers Middle Management Conference
April 14-16, 2015
Raleigh, N.C.

American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council Small Business Conference
April 22, 2015
Washington, D.C.

National Association of State Budget Officers 2015 Spring Meeting on State Fiscal Conditions
April 23-24, 2015
Austin, Texas

National Association of State Chief Information Officers Midyear Conference
April 26-29, 2015
Alexandria, Va.


2015 Midyear Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Interactive Technology Sponsors
Member Center Sponsor
Ciena
Wifi Sponsor
Hortonworks
Communications Sponsor
Media Sponsors
GCN




Save the Date: NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards Spotlight and All-states Call
Mark your calendars for March 26 from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Eastern when the NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards will be in the spotlight.

From 2:30 - 3 p.m. Eastern you will hear from Bob Buckheit, Business and Technology Application Specialist from the State of North Carolina, on their winning submission from 2014 in the Data, Information and Knowledge Management category on the state's electronic rounds tracking system.

Then, at 3 p.m. Eastern, the Awards Committee co-chairs as well as some past award recipients will be on hand to discuss the 2015 State IT Recognition Awards program. They will highlight changes in categories, submission processes and best practices and important deadlines. This is a must-attend for any state who wishes to submit a nomination this year!

Click here to join this webinar and hear important information about the 2015 NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards program.

Questions? Contact Emily A. Lane, NASCIO's program and brand manager, or call her at 859.514.9167.

NASCIO 2015 Midyear Conference Updates
2015 NASCIO Midyear Conference
April 26-29, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, Va.

Visit the 2015 Midyear Conference webpage for up-to-date information on the Conference!

Registration
Conference registration is open. Click here to log in and register to attend.

Keynote Speaker Announced
Michelle Stacy is the former president
of Green Mountain's Keurig Division and a visionary corporate leader on growth, innovation and culture. Stacy reveals the keys to developing a leadership style that engages employees and how to mentor talent to achieve maximum results.  You won't want to miss Michelle Stacy's five strategies that can improve and transform innovation in your workplace.

See the full conference agenda here.
Give Back: A $30 Donation Provides a Supplies-Filled Backpack to a Student in Need
In appreciation of the Midyear conference host state, NASCIO gives back to a charitable program in the area. This year we will be helping students in need start the next school year off right by filling backpacks with school supplies. While all donations are gladly accepted, a $30 donation will provide one complete backpack. Please make your donation by March 27 so supplies can be ordered and then join us at Midyear as we stuff backpacks and network.

NASCIO is working with the Family and Community Engagement Center (FACE) to distribute backpacks to kindergarten students in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS). FACE provides opportunities and resources for students, families and community members to participate in activities relevant to the academic achievement of ACPS students. Research indicates that engagement in schools not only helps improve student academic outcomes but is also linked to improved behavior, attendance, graduation and college enrollment rate.
Building Successful Relationships: State CIO Advice for IT Partners
On March 5, NASCIO released Building Successful Relationships: State CIO Advice for IT Partners. This brief, the outcome of the Corporate Leadership Council's 2014 project, gives real advice from State CIOs to IT Partners on the best ways to do business with states.

Read the complete paper at
www.nascio.org/SuccessfulRelationships
State IT Workforce Survey
Thank you to all who responded to the President's Initiative on State IT Workforce Survey. The results are being compiled and a report will be issued before the NASCIO Midyear Conference, in addition to a general session held at Midyear. For more information, contact NASCIO Senior Policy Analyst Meredith Ward at mward@NASCIO.org.
Public Health Community Platform (PHCP) Steering Committee
Eric Sweden, program director, enterprise architecture and governance, recently represented NASCIO at the Public Health Community Platform (PHCP) Steering Committee. State CIOs will want to note that a Request for Information will be issued soon and will help to influence the direction of this important national initiative.

More on the PHCP

The PHCP will be a secure online environment to make public health agencies' informatics activities more efficient and effective. The PHCP will offer interoperable applications for agencies to access, exchange, visualize, and analyze both their own data and data from trusted partners. User-driven application development will make the PHCP a useful and trusted platform that will continuously evolve with changing public health needs.

PHCP development is now in Year 2. Year 1 of the PHCP project laid the groundwork for the technology and supporting infrastructure necessary to move forward with the PHCP. During Year 1, ASTHO enlisted several organizations, including NASCIO, to assess various legal, governance, and sustainability issues, understand the PHCP's technical feasibility and challenges, and develop a communications strategy to engage stakeholders and garner support.

In Year 2, ASTHO and the PHCP Steering Committee will explore pilot use cases for PHCP using end-to-end case reporting, an immunization hub, and analysis and visualization. There will also be a Request for
Information issued in the near future.

Information will be posted to the NASCIO Community once the RFI is published. 
More information about the PHCP is available at www.thephcp.org. Please contact Eric Sweden for questions.

Watch on Washington
from NASCIO Director of Government Affairs Mitch Herckis
FirstNet Ramps Up Activities, Seeks Comments and Readies SLIGP's Second Round
On Friday, March 13, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) published a Public Notice in the federal register seeking comments on a wide variety of key issues surrounding the planning and deployment of a nationwide public safety broadband network. NASCIO is still reviewing the public notice as of publication, but it includes significant questions regarding the technical aspects of the network, as well as the policies and procedures that will lead to state plans and build-out of the network nationwide. The public notice is available here.

In addition, FirstNet will be releasing recommended data collection activities for the states in anticipation of the second round of the State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP) activities before the end of March.

The Broadband and Telecommunications Committee will hear more about the second notice and request for public comment, as well as the new data collection activity guidance during a teleconference with FirstNet officials on March 24. For details on the teleconference, please visit the Broadband and Telecommunications Committee Community Page.

The flurry of activity comes on the heels of a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee hearing on FirstNet that included testimony from the Authority's Chair, Sue Swenson. Swenson noted that FirstNet is on track to put out a draft request for proposals toward the end of March, and a final request for proposals toward the end of the calendar year. It was also discussed at length the concern that federal regulations are potential barriers to FirstNet hiring quality staff and speed to market. You can find the full information and video of the hearing on the committee website: "Three Years Later: Are We Any Closer to a Nationwide Public Safety Wireless Broadband Network?"

NGA, NASCIO Plan State Cybersecurity Summit
At the end of March, the National Governors Association, in conjunction with NASCIO, will host a Cybersecurity Summit that will bring together teams representing the major components of each state's cybersecurity enterprise with the aim of focusing state leaders on developing practical solutions and recommendations for state policy and execution. State teams are being designated by governors and comprise a mix of chief information officers, chief information security officers, homeland security advisors, adjutants general, emergency managers, energy advisors, lead state law enforcement officials, budget and revenue officials, and others.

FCC Takes Controversial Votes on Title II, Public Sector Investment in Consumer Broadband Services
On February 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to classify Internet Service Providers (ISP) as "common carriers," subject to Title II regulation by the FCC. The new rules will allow the commission to intervene in cases where ISPs seem to be blocking, slowing ("throttling"), or providing paid prioritization of internet traffic. Unlike many FCC Title II entities, ISPs will not be subject to tariffing, rate regulation, and "unbundling" requirements. The FCC also says they will not set rates or regulate retail prices. It also does not impact data that does not go over the public internet, such as specialized or managed services. Unlike with traditional telecommunications services, the FCC has ruled that all broadband is inherently interstate commerce, thus prohibiting state regulation of ISPs. FCC will take up on a case-by-case basis preemption of any state laws that conflict with FCC policy. There are also new transparency requirements regarding ISP data on speed and price that may be of use to state CIOs. More information is available at www.fcc.gov/openinternet.

In a separate decision, the FCC also preempted state laws that prevented the city of Wilson, N.C., and the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee from expanding their local, publicly-owned ISP to additional consumers in neighboring jurisdictions. It was clear the ruling was specific to these two state examples, but may encourage other public entities or public-private-partnerships to challenge state laws that prohibit public broadband infrastructure investment that competes with private sector incumbents. The memorandum opinion and order may be found here.
Welcome to the Newest NASCIO Team Member

Meet Our Newest Members

New Chief Information Officers:

  • David Garcia, Secretary of Information Technology, State of Maryland
  • Rosa Lara, Acting Chief Information Officer, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
  • Eric Link, Interim Chief Information Officer, Commonwealth of Virginia
New Corporate Members:
  • immixGroup
Committee and Working Group Updates
The Broadband and Telecommunications Committee last met February 24 and was joined by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) who discussed the BroadbandUSA initiative and sought input from states on how to promote broadband expansion and higher speeds. The conversation will continue during the Roundtable Sessions at the NASCIO Midyear Conference. In addition, the committee was joined by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), who discussed the Federal Communications Commission recent action to regulate internet service providers (ISPs) as "Title II" common carriers in an effort to promote an open internet.

On March 24, the committee will host employees of FirstNet to discuss the second public notice seeking comments, as well as recommended state data collection activities for the second round of the State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP).
The Enterprise Architecture and Governance Committee
held its monthly call on March 12. Discussion on the call was titled, "Enterprise Portfolio Management, Getting Started - Keeping it Simple."
The Health Care Working Group last  met February 25 and heard about the Health Data Consortium from the organization's Executive Director Christopher Boone.
The most recent webinar for the  National Innovation Forum  was held March 11. Topics included the "Lights Out" Data Center presented by Jim Bates, CIO of Alaska; the Georgia Parks App presented by John Martin, CTO of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources; and Application Portfolio Management Multi-tenant Platform presented by John Van Hoorn, Texas director of Enterprise Solution Services.
The Security and Privacy Committee 's March meeting featured Kevin Desouza with the Center for Technology Innovation and Arizona State University, who discuss his work on how states are addressing cybersecurity.

Please note the committee call time has now been changed to 2 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
The  State IT Procurement Modernization Committee's  March meeting featured Ray Johnson, North Carolina IT strategic sourcing director, who spoke on procurement innovation in North Carolina. The committee's next publication will be a case study on CalCloud and the paper is expected to be released before the NASCIO Midyear Conference. There will also be a session on the topic at Midyear.
NASCIO: Making Connections
Doug Robinson , NASCIO executive director, represented NASCIO at the WSCA-NASPO Public Cloud XaaS Advisory Meeting in Salt Lake City, March 2-3.
 
Robinson also spoke at the following events in March:
  • Panel speaker on FirstNet at AFCEA Homeland Security Conference in Washington D.C., March 10
  • Guest keynote speaker at the Technology Association of Georgia meeting in Atlanta, March 11
  • Panel speaker on cloud at NAAG Southern Region Meeting in Point Clear, AL on March 13
Mitch Herckis, NASCIO government affairs director,  attended the Cross-Sector Cyber Security Working Group "ISAC-ISAO Summit," which was focused on promoting information sharing through implementation of the recent Executive Order.

Herckis joined key state leaders in FEMA Region V and FirstNet leadership for a discussion on the future of the nationwide public safety broadband network in the Great Lakes region.
NASCIO Committee and Working Group Schedule
  •  Broadband and Telecommunications Committee
    -
    Tuesday, March 24 at 3 p.m. Eastern
     
  • Health Care Working Group
    -
    Wednesday, March 25 at 3 p.m. Eastern
     
  • Executive Committee
    - Thursday, April 2 at 4 p.m. Eastern
     
  • National Innovation Forum
    - Wednesday, April 8 at 12 p.m. Eastern
     
  • State IT Procurement Modernization Committee
    Wednesday, April 8 at 2 p.m. Eastern
     
  • Enterprise Architecture and Governance Committee - Thursday, April 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern
     
  • Security and Privacy Committee
    - Tuesday, April 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern
Corporate Member Partner Profiles
Each month, NASCIO randomly draws three corporate members to be featured in the monthly newsletter. To view a complete list of NASCIO's corporate partners, visit www.nascio.org/aboutNASCIO/corpProfiles
GANTECH

Contact: Jay Elis
Title: Vice President of Business Solutions
Address: 9175 Guilford Rd, Ste 101, Columbia, MD 21046
Phone: 443.276.4754
Website:  www.gantech.net

GANTECH has transformed emerging technology into value over the past 15 years for government customers. In addition to our proven data center and virtualization expertise, we are leading the way in End-User Computing and Managed Services, utilizing our ISO20000-1:2011 certification to guarantee the adoption of IT best practices.
Informatica
Contact: John Fraser
Title: Director, US State and Local Government
Address: 11710 Plaza America Dr, Ste 700, Reston, VA 20190
Phone: 703.801.9200
Website:  www.informatica.com

Government today faces unprecedented challenges. These include shrinking budgets, record high unemployment, increasing demand for human services programs, healthcare reform, security threats and cyber attacks-all combined with pressures for improved outcomes and better accountability. Organizations are turning to IT to help solve these problems.

Informatica provides innovative solutions for addressing the most pressing IT initiatives: data center consolidation; management of big data; application retirement; data integration, quality, privacy; and cyber security. Using our solutions, government can focus time and resources on their mission-critical tasks, including defense and intelligence, law enforcement, tax and revenue, education, and the provision of benefits and services to the public. Informatica solutions for state and local governments eliminate data silos and ensure that data is trustworthy, actionable, and authoritative. These solutions access and integrate all data-in different systems, languages, and formats-and deliver that data wherever it is needed. These solutions enable state and local agencies to meet executive and legislative requirements for effectiveness, transparency, and accountability. With these solutions, agencies can improve service delivery across health and human services; positively impact K-12 education; reduce waste, fraud, and abuse; and streamline government IT operations.

For more information visit www.informatica.com/publicsector.
Symantec

Contact: Dawn Swainston
Title: Director, Business Development
Address: 2350 Corporate Park Dr, Ste 300, Herndon, VA 20171
Phone: 512.248.9800

Symantec is the global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help our customers - from small counties to the largest states - secure and manage their information, technology infrastructures and related processes efficiently and effectively. Symantec recognizes the unique challenges faced by IT professionals at all levels of government, featuring a dedicated team of public sector and solution experts to deliver a diverse array of solutions designed to address a full range of challenges, such as data loss prevention, green IT, mobile computing, e-discovery and more. With Symantec software and solutions, securing and managing critical information across your enterprise, your organization can be reliable, transparent and cost-effective.