Chapter 10: Information Technology

Information technology (IT) is a common part of any initiative or investment, and the state recognizes there is a fundamental difference between standard information technology expenditures (network, security, app costs, etc.)  and spending in support of delivering IT projects. In RCW 43.88.092, the Legislature indicated a desire for transparency in all IT expenditures. However, the degree to which these expenditures are scrutinized will depend on the type and purpose of the investment. These budget instructions enable Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech) and Office of Financial Management (OFM) to evaluate proposed information technology expenditures and establish priority ranking categories of the proposals.

Per RCW 43.105.020, “Information technology” includes, but is not limited to, all electronic technology systems and services, automated information handling, system design and analysis, conversion of data, computer programming, information storage and retrieval, telecommunications, requisite system controls, simulation, electronic commerce, radio technologies, and all related interactions between people and machines.

“Telecommunications” includes, but is not limited to, wireless or wired systems for transport of voice, video, and data communications, network systems, requisite facilities, equipment, system controls, simulation, electronic commerce, and all related interactions between people and machines.

For budgeting purposes, IT expenditures include the following:

• IT hardware (computers, laptops, telephones, servers, networking equipment, etc.).
• Software (licenses, development of custom software).
• IT services (software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service).
• IT contracts, including project management, quality assurance, independent verification and validation and other professional and consultative services related to information technology and/or telecommunications.
• IT staff or staff who will be performing IT functions.

To support the reuse of existing state resources, all IT investments – including project IT expenditures – are expected to comply with IT statutes and policies. For a comprehensive list of state policies and standards, see WaTech technology policies. Some of the most frequently used requirements are listed here for convenience.

Use of the State Data Center – State Technology Policy EA-02-03-S – Data Center Investments outlines the requirements for agencies to locate physical servers and related equipment in the state data center. The policy describes the limited nature of equipment that may be housed at agency locations. These requirements do not apply to cloud-based services.

Radio, Radio over Internet Protocol (ROIP) and public safety communications investments.  Agencies must receive written approval from the State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) before beginning any significant investments in radio technology, Radio over Internet Protocol or public safety communication systems development, enhancement, or acquisition. For these instructions, significant investments are defined as greater than or equal to $250,000. Approval is required regardless of the funding source or whether the request is for additional funding or for a previously approved or funded effort. The Military Department (MIL) can provide more information about this requirement upon request. The SIEC can be contacted by emailing adam.wasserman@mil.wa.gov. (RCW 38.52.595).

Facial recognition. Agencies must file a notice of intent and an accountability report with the Technology Services Board (TSB) if they are procuring or developing facial recognition technology. The accountability report must include all elements included in RCW 43.386. Information on submitting reports to the TSB can be found at https://watech.wa.gov/facial-recognition.

Administrative and financial system approval. The Statewide Administrative and Accounting Manual (SAAM) Section 80.30.88 and WaTech Policy EA-122 require the approval of WaTech and OFM before an agency invests in a new or existing administrative/financial system. As part of the review process, agencies are required to demonstrate they have performed due diligence and research in investigating similar solutions that are available for reuse in state government. Requests will also be evaluated for their relationship to the One Washington program. This approval is required for both new investments and enhancements to existing systems.

This approval must be obtained prior to submission of a decision package, and the approval letter must be attached to the decision package. To initiate a request, agencies may submit an IT Investment Intake and include a note in the description that this is related to a proposed decision package or send an email request to the WaTech Policy & Waiver mailbox. A table containing Administrative & Financial system categories and functions is below and can be found on the WaTech Website under Administrative and Financial Systems Definitions.

See IT Definitions section above

Guidance on information to include in the decision package when there are IT costs. Responses within the body of the decision package will be considered in the WaTech evaluation and priority ranking process:

• Within the decision package section entitled Decision Package Description, include a description of the feasibility study, market research or other due diligence activities leading to the proposed technology solution. More detailed documentation of these activities should be included as attachments to the decision package.
• Within the detailed Assumptions and Calculations section, agencies should provide a summary of assumptions influencing the requested technology amounts.
• Within the Strategic and Performance Outcomes section, agencies should identify how this proposed IT investment improves business outcomes and what their impacts are for the customer experience. The decision package should provide specific examples of these business outcomes and their impacts to the customer experience, and how those are improved because of the proposed initiative.

When developing the budget associated with the decision package, agencies should take onboarding and start up activities into consideration. It is not unusual for a project to take several months to onboard project staff and develop any required approval documents that are prerequisites to starting work.

Guidance on completing the IT addendum. Certain DPs containing IT costs as defined above must complete an IT Addendum whose link is available through ServiceNow on WaTech’s website.  This survey will generate a PDF document of responses, which must be submitted as an attachment accompanying the agency’s decision package submittal. An IT Addendum must be completed for each qualifying decision package.

No IT addendum is needed for any decision package in the following two cases:

1. The agency’s investments are solely for the purpose of purchasing equipment and software — such as laptops, cell phones and applications — that will be used by new FTEs.
2. The agency’s investments are for the purpose of increasing IT FTE(s) to accommodate an agency expanding business operations.

Please clearly state in the Decision Package Description whether item 1, item 2, or both apply.

In all other cases, DPs with IT costs must include a completed IT Addendum. The IT Addendum link is available through ServiceNow on WaTech’s website, and includes five parts:

• Part 1 requires agencies to fill out the 27-29 IT Fiscal Estimate Workbook with an itemized breakdown of information technology costs. This information is needed because the costs noted in the DP are likely a blend of IT and non-IT costs. This allows OFM and WaTech to meet reporting requirements on the IT costs. 

The itemized 27-29 IT Fiscal Estimate Workbook is also available on the OFM budget forms website at 2027-29 Operating and Transportation Forms.

• Part 2 contains questions about facial recognition and the reuse of existing state resources. The answer to these questions will help WaTech and OFM determine if the decision package will be funded. In some cases, the agency will need to attach copies of supporting documents.

• Part 3 needs to be answered for all IT maintenance level DPs and contains questions that will be used for reporting by WaTech as required by RCW 43.88.092. 

All policy-level DPs must answer the additional questions listed in Part 4 and Part 5.

• Part 4 needs to be answered for all IT policy-level DPs and contains questions that will be used for reporting as required by RCW 43.88.092.

• Part 5 must be answered by all policy-level DPs and contains scoring questions that will be used to evaluate and prioritize IT DPs.

WaTech will review all DPs containing any IT costs. Through this process, other DPs may be identified as needing an IT addendum or be excluded from the prioritization process. In cases where a decision package is later determined to be an IT investment, but no IT addendum has been submitted, WaTech will contact the agency to request the IT Addendum and provide a deadline for submission.

After completing the IT Addendum in ServiceNow, the agency will receive a PDF copy of their responses via email. Agencies must submit this PDF as an attachment to the associated decision package in the Agency Budget System (ABS). DPs submitted in ABS with an IT addendum and 27-29 IT Fiscal Estimate Workbook will be retrieved from that system by WaTech to complete the evaluation and prioritization process. Agencies will not have to perform additional work during the WaTech DP evaluation process.

Enterprise technology impact review before final submission of DPs. All policy-level DPs require a “DP IT Consultation” with WaTech. For each decision package, the agency must submit a request to WaTech Business Relationship Management team at watechdlbrms@watech.wa.gov with the subject line:

 “DP Services Consult Request for 27-29 biennium (insert your agency name and Decision Package Title).”

In the body of the request, please provide the full name and phone number of the agency’s point of contact. Agencies do not have to have a fully completed Decision Package submission to schedule and conduct an IT DP consultation, as draft documentation is sufficient. Agencies will be asked to fill out a presentation deck that will be available on WaTech’s website. A consultation will be conducted, and the outcome will include documentation summarizing the understanding of the investment and the impacts considered, which may include budgetary estimates for WaTech services. All consultations and meetings must be completed by August 31, 2026.

The criteria scoring scale being used by WaTech to evaluate and rank DPs is available on the WaTech Decision Package Prioritization website. See FY27-29 Decision Package Prioritization Criteria. If you have additional questions on the decision package scoring process or criteria contact TBMProgramOffice@watech.wa.gov.

WaTech and the OFM budget division will work together to develop the Governor’s 2027-29 IT plan and technology budget, as required by RCW 43.88.092. This document will be an appendix to the Governor’s budget proposal that will include the following information:

• Agency detail of the previous biennium’s IT expenditures will be obtained using existing data from the State’s Technology Business Management Program.
• IT projects included in the Governor’s 2027-29 budget using information contained in the associated DPs for each project.
• Budget information for existing IT projects under WaTech oversight, as reported by agencies to WaTech.

Agency chief financial officers and chief information officers should ensure that IT accounting and other data are accurate, as they will be published in the Governor’s 2027-29 IT plan and technology budget.

Background. One Washington, led by the Office of Financial Management, is an enterprise-wide transformation program focused on replacing the state’s administrative systems (including finance, procurement, budget, human resources/payroll) technology with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system – Workday.

One Washington consists of two elements: transformation of business processes and implementation of an ERP to support those business processes.

By implementing an ERP and transforming the processes that support the state’s business, One Washington will help ensure decision makers have access to data that is accurate and timely, standardize common business processes across agencies and enable improvements to citizen service delivery.

One Washington 2027-29 scope. The focus for the 2027-29 One Washington budget request is planned to include:

• Phase 1A Go-Live
• Phase 1A Stabilization

In scope. If your agency system(s) being remediated specifically related to One Washington administration functionality (budget, finance, procurement, human resources/payroll), please refer to the One Washington technology pool instructions.

Out of scope. If your agency’s system(s) upgraded or modernized are outside the scope of One Washington functionality (budget, finance, procurement, human resources/payroll), please refer to the beginning of this chapter for guidance.

One Washington 2027-29 budget request and related agency budget requests. All One Washington-related budget requests, which include agency remediation requests, must be submitted to One Washington to be considered for inclusion in the consolidated enterprise-wide One Washington decision package.

One Washington will provide more information in mid-June 2026 regarding applying for funding to support Phase 1A Stabilization, Phase 1B implementation, and Phase 2 planning.

For more information, contact your One Washington agency point of contact, or the One Washington Budget Manager.