Ed Driesse, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Louisiana state government, was the keynote speaker of the 20th Annual Council of Information Services Directors Conference (CISD) and Expo. His presentation focused on technology challenges that state government must meet through transformative innovation and intelligent leadership. He reiterated that the end goal for technology innovations is always to provide effective government services to Louisiana's citizens. The Conference held in Baton Rouge October 10-11, 2011 brought together state agency and education information systems and management professionals to address a broad range of information technology topics and cutting edge technologies. View the CIO's PowerPoint presentation.

View the video.

Ed Driesse also invited conference attendees at all levels in their organization to submit any innovative ideas to him this through this survey.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) honored Ruth Johnson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, with the association's State Technology Innovator award at NASCIO's 2011 Annual Conference in Denver.

Johnson was chosen for her efforts to leverage technology in state government to keep children safe, help individuals and families become self-sufficient, and provide safe refuge during disasters. Her leadership in advancements in services delivery, adoption of new technologies, and use of best practices can be seen in Louisiana's Common Access Front End for multiple public assistance programs, which will launch statewide early in 2012, and Tracking of Time Services (TOTS) for the Child Care Assistance Program, which has saved an average of $2.2 million per month. Other innovations led by Johnson include the implementation of 1-888-LA-HELPU, a single call and 1-855-4LA-KIDS, a centralized intake hotline for child protection investigations.

NASCIO presents the State Technology Innovator Award on an annual basis to recognize state leaders who steadily promote innovation, excellence and good government. Nominees must be an employee of, elected official, appointed official or other appointee representing state government.

The Office of State Purchasing is increasing the individual line item unit cost and the
total release/purchase order amount on the Microcomputer & Peripheral Contracts.
The individual line item unit cost is being increased from $25,000 to $50,000 and
the total release/purchase order amount that can be issued against these contracts
is being increased from $500,000 to a limit of $1,000,000. Read OSP Memorandum 12-02.

Louisiana is one of five states recognized as a leading state by a national government watchdog group for its efforts to provide transparency and accountability on state spending. The United States Public Interest Research Group, an organization that advocates for the public interest to ensure a responsive democracy, graded all 50 states on how well they provide online access to information about government spending.

Top-ranked states with an ‘A’ are Kentucky and Texas. An ‘A-’ was awarded to Louisiana, Arizona, and Indiana.  These five leading states were lauded for providing information that is highly searchable, and include detailed data about government contracts, tax subsidies and grants to businesses. LaTrac, the state's transparency and accountability website, helped Louisiana get its grade.

Check out the information on LaTrac.  Read the report, Following the Money 2011.

Thanks to the leadership of Governor Bobby Jindal and CIO Ed Driesse, the Office of Information Technology is proud to announce Louisiana's "B" rating in the 2010 Digital States Survey. The Survey, conducted biannually in even years, is a comprehensive examination of the best practices, policies, and progress made by state governments in their use of digital technologies to better serve citizens and businesses, realize efficiencies, and streamline operations. The survey is conducted by the Center for Digital Government.