New Jersey budget crisis a test for state IT

07.07.2006
Many IT managers have developed contingency plans to deal with the high rates of personnel absenteeism that might be caused by an emergency, such as a pandemic or threatening weather. But Adel Ebeid, New Jersey's chief technology officer, this week is managing a manmade crisis: a state budget shutdown that has forced him to drastically cut his staff by more than 90 percent and turn to contigency plans designed for service disruptions.

The shutdown, which began Monday, has forced the Office of Information Technology to cut its staff from 930 to just 80 employees. Those employees still on the job have been working to keep essential IT services operating, including the state's data centers and its network and Internet services. Those at work also include a limited number of application developers.

"Unfortunately, at a time like this, IT really doesn't shut down, Ebeid said. "If anything, IT really steps up quite a bit. This has been an excellent lesson statewide on how IT actually proved to be sort of the umbilical cord for government operations."

The crisis arose from a budget impasse between New Jersey lawmakers and Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat who appeared to be close to an agreement late Thursday that could end the state government shutdown.

Ebeid said his team relied on contingency plans that envisioned a disruption in services, "and that's pretty much what we are really facing." It is not unlike planning for absenteeism prompted by a bird flu, he said.

Ebeid said his biggest concern has been keeping the state's wide-area network running as well as ensuring the continuity of e-mail and Internet services.