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State Office Buildings and Facilities

In Fiscal Year 2014, the Patrick Administration filed its budget recommendation in a programmatic format to make clear to the public what its tax dollars are funding in clear, understandable terms.  In an effort to further government transparency and truth in budgeting, the State Government Infrastructure investment category has been created to better align investments that build the framework of state government.  This investment category combines two former investment categories from past capital plans: Information Technology (IT) and State Office Buildings.  IT projects that are intrinsically linked to other policy areas are now included in the appropriate policy section. 

IT enables the delivery of critical services to constituents in a better, faster and more efficient manner than would otherwise be possible.  During the prolonged economic downturn, constituent demands for government services increased as budgets were drastically reduced.  As a result, agencies have increasingly sought to take advantage of technology to meet constituent needs. 

As we continue climbing out of that downturn, the Commonwealth is actively carrying out technology-driven business transformations and investing strategically in our IT infrastructure to increase access to state services for all constituents, regardless of location.  At the same time, the Commonwealth has taken several critical steps to improving the safety and accessibility of its facilities and buildings.  Safe, convenient and accessible state office buildings and facilities are essential for the efficient and effective functioning of government and for providing programs and services for the citizens of the Commonwealth.  DCAMM’s Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) initiative is a central, portfolio-driven approach to managing the Commonwealth’s buildings in an efficient, effective and secure manner.  In person or online, constituents are experiencing dramatically improved and expanded service delivery. 

The following graph reflects the Administration’s estimated capital investment in state government infrastructure capital projects and programs over the next five years, as compared to fiscal years 2007 and 2013 information technology and state office building related spending.

Administration Accomplishments to Date

• As directed in Executive Order 543, the Commonwealth developed a blueprint that outlines an implementation plan for Integrated Facilities Management.  The Commonwealth Facilities Advisory Council (CFAC), comprised of Facilities Management professionals from the public and private sectors have been meeting for two years to guide this process.  Consistent with this effort, DCAMM has developed a model of regional governance consisting of 5 distinct geographic regions.
• Open Checkbook, launched in 2011, is a user-friendly, public facing tool containing comprehensive information on state government expenditures, down to a checkbook-like level, for vendor spending on a near real-time basis. Interested parties can monitor spending quickly and easily, as well as compare expenditures over time.
• The Commonwealth completed construction of the Springfield Data Center which will serve as an active back-up to enhance overall capacity and reliability of the Information Technology Division.  The building is a showcase green data center, having been designed with the latest technologies in energy-efficient data center infrastructure, sustainable building design, consolidated computer technologies, and the use of renewable and cost-competitive energy sources. 
• Three projects were completed at the State Transportation Building to improve the operations and ensure better energy efficiency and reliability.  The chiller plant was upgraded, an emergency generator was replaced and all of the elevators and escalators were upgraded and refurbished. 
• Critical life safety and fire alarm upgrades were completed at the State House, including the addition of lightning protection of the State House’s golden dome.

FY14 Highlights

• The capital plan continues to invest in ADA compliance assessments, accessibility upgrades and project reviews throughout the Commonwealth. 
• Deferred Maintenance funding is increased to $50 M and will be supported by a new methodology to prioritize deferred maintenance funding requests from agencies, assess priorities and consider accessibility and operational concerns. 
• DCAMM took on the management of additional state assets in order to establish a consistent standard and realize efficiencies across resources.  The Facilities coming under DCAMM management in FY 14 include:
  • Glavin Center, Shrewsbury;
  • Milford National Guard Headquarters;
  • Massachusetts Information Technology Center (MITC);
  • State Medical Examiners, Boston and Sandwich;
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, Waltham;
  • Springfield Data Center;
  • Mass Exposition Building (Big E) Springfield;
  • Springfield State Office Building (Dwight St.);
  • Springfield State Office Building (RMV);
  • Pittsfield State Office Building;
  • Allen House, Pittsfield.
• State House modernization efforts will include IT systems infrastructure, HVAC, electrical systems in the West Wing, the Gardner Auditorium and the House Chamber.  These upgrades will provide increased accessibility, modernize technology and provide other critical infrastructure improvements. 
• The Commonwealth will continue the overhaul of the Commonwealth’s procurement processes by implementing COMMBUYS, a single, transparent statewide system to provide vendor registration, procurement, purchasing, invoicing, payment and spend management that will be accessible to all state agencies, municipalities and other eligible public purchasing entities within the borders of Massachusetts.

Project Financed IT Investments

Investments in IT have substantial impacts across all corners of state government.  State agencies are able to provide increasingly higher levels of service in even the most challenging fiscal climates; municipalities are able to invest more local aid in programmatic needs instead of support systems; and health care cost containment is in part made possible by the investments made in the Commonwealth’s IT infrastructure.  In addition to improving service, IT investments can produce a return on investment to the Commonwealth through new revenue or cost savings due to operational efficiencies.

To ensure that the Commonwealth realizes this return on investment, the Administration engaged a renowned private IT investment consultant to produce a methodology for creating, maintaining and monitoring the long term benefits and costs of IT capital projects. This methodology will be used to verify new and existing projects’ long term impact and drive investment decisions. The consultant is also now partnering with the Commonwealth to design and implement a user-friendly but powerful web-based application to help identify the key financial and non-financial benefits of IT investments. 

One of the key features of the new return on investment-based process is to help identify projects which can generate increased revenues and/or operational savings that can also help pay some or all of the costs of the project.  In cases where all or part of the project cost will be paid back through operational savings or new revenue, the Commonwealth will use those funding streams to pay back the associated debt service.

Finally, the Administration will deploy a new Strategic IT Procurement Team to provide assistance to agencies procuring large, complex IT projects and to help ensure that projects get off to a good start.  This team will take recommendations from the IT procurement study due to the Legislature in 2014 and other industry best practices to assist agencies with planning, writing and completing large procurements.  The goal of this team is to reduce onerous requirements which lead to extended timelines for project completion and implementation of dated technology, as well as to improve competition for the Commonwealth’s IT business.

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