81-1117. Information management services administrator; powers, duties, and responsibilities; enumerated; restrictions on agency acquisitions; Information Management Revolving Fund; created; investment.

(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, information management includes, but is not limited to:

(a) Mainframe computers, minicomputers, microprocessors, word processors, and desktop computers;

(b) Any peripheral device to be used with the equipment listed in subdivision (1)(a) of this section for such purposes as data input and output, data storage, or data communications;

(c) Any code or program to control the operation of the equipment or devices listed in subdivision (1)(a) or (1)(b) of this section; and

(d) Employment of professional expertise for computer system design, operations, or program development.

(2) Subject to review and approval by the Chief Information Officer, the information management services administrator shall have the following powers, duties, and responsibilities:

(a) He or she may review the accounting and other records and reporting systems of all divisions within the Department of Administrative Services and within every other department and agency of the state;

(b) He or she shall systematically review the potential application of information management to any work performed outside the information management services division or by any department or agency of the state or any subdivision of any department or agency of the state, and if the costs of mechanizing such work will not exceed present costs or if efficiencies may be achieved, he or she may accept responsibility for the performance of such work. He or she may also review computer applications being used to determine if revision or deletion of computer applications would be beneficial. The findings of reviews made pursuant to this subdivision shall be reported to the Governor and the Legislative Fiscal Analyst. The findings submitted to the Legislative Fiscal Analyst shall be submitted electronically;

(c) He or she may, with the approval of the Chief Information Officer, make such revisions to internal systems for production of accounting and other reports as may be necessary to permit economical undertaking of work to be performed by the information management services division for any agency or department of the state;

(d) He or she shall organize the information management services division to provide system review, system design, feasibility studies, and machine reviews;

(e) He or she may review the operations of information management installations as may exist in any department or agency of the state and may cause such operations to be merged with those of the information management services division in the event that a cost analysis shows that economic advantage may be achieved. He or she may permit the establishment of departmental or agency information management operations in any department or agency of the state if his or her analysis of feasibility shows a potential economy or a substantial convenience for the state incident to such separate establishment. No state agency shall hire, purchase, lease, or rent any information management item listed in subsection (1) of this section without the written approval of the information management services administrator. All new computer programs developed or acquired for use with information management equipment of any state agency shall be documented according to standards developed or approved by the information management services administrator;

(f) He or she shall prepare a budget in sufficient time in advance of the statutory date for submittal of budget requests by departments and agencies of the state as to permit each department and agency for which services are performed, or are to be performed during the request budget period, to be informed of the cost of maintaining the current fiscal year's production work for inclusion within their respective budget requests;

(g) He or she shall provide for a system of charges for services rendered by the information management services division to any other department or agency of the state when these charges are allocable to a particular project carried on by such department or division. Such standard rate charges shall, as nearly as may be practical, reflect the actual costs incurred in the performance of services for such department or agency. Such system of charges shall be annually reviewed by the Legislature's Committee on Appropriations. Rates planned for the coming fiscal year shall be included in the instructions for completion of budget request forms as annually prepared by the Department of Administrative Services budget division. If rate revisions are required during the fiscal year to reflect changes in the information management services division's operating costs, these revisions shall be announced to state agencies at least thirty days prior to their use in billing these agencies for service. Miscellaneous supplies shall be billed to using agencies at actual cost. Equipment used primarily by one agency for special applications shall be billed to that agency at actual cost. In the event of saturation of the information management services division with the resulting need for contractual support to be furnished by another information management installation, agencies shall be billed at actual cost. The charges received by the department for information management services shall be credited to a fund hereby created which shall be known as the Information Management Revolving Fund. Expenditures shall be made from such fund to finance the operations of the information management services division in accordance with appropriations made by the Legislature. Any money in the Information Management Revolving Fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act;

(h) He or she may provide information management services and technical assistance to any subdivision of government as provided for under the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act;

(i) He or she shall provide for the centralization of all administrative work, including that of educational institutions, into the information management services division;

(j) He or she shall provide definitions of standards and common data elements, coordinate the collection of data, consolidate data files or data banks, and review and approve or disapprove the establishment of separate data banks; and

(k) He or she shall provide assistance as requested by the Nebraska Information Technology Commission to support the technical panel created in section 86-521.

Each member of the Legislature shall receive an electronic copy of the report required by subdivision (2)(b) of this section by making a request for it to the administrator.

Source

Cross References

Annotations

This section held not applicable to the Board of Regents which cannot delegate its constitutional powers and duties to other officers or agencies. Board of Regents v. Exon, 199 Neb. 146, 256 N.W.2d 330 (1977).