I JUDICIARY COMMITTEE Oversight Hearing on 2008 Criminal Justice Reforms January 19, 2010 . Submitted by Sean Tbakkar, Executive Director, CJIS Governing Board Good morning Senator McDonald, Senator Kissel, Representative Lawlor, Representative O?Neill and members of the Judiciary Committee. I am addressing you today to respectfully urge your support for the Connecticut Information Sharing System (CISS). The CISS solution is a critical information-sharing tool that will provide essential criminal justice information to agency personnel and enhance the business operations of justice and public safety agencies throughout the state of Connecticut. After the 2007 Cheshire tragedy, the legislature and the governor came together to pass Public Act 08-01. The Act required?the establishment of a CI IS information-sharing system for Connecticut under the direction of the CJIS Governing Board. The criminal justice reform projects directed by PA 08-01 are essential for improving the state?s criminal justice system and preventing future tragedies. The CJIS Governing Board has accomplished an impressive number of proj ects this year. We oversaw the progress of the Connecticut Impaired Driving Records Information System (CIDRIS) and the Offender Based Tracking System (OBTS) applications transition to the Department of Information Technology (DOIT). We implemented the CJIS Board?s recommendations for governance; restructured the CJ IS committees by eliminating unnecessary committees and reconstituting and updating committee charters - that better re?ect the new goals and objectives that the CJ IS Governing Board has set; .and developed missions, visions, values, goals, and success metrics for each committee. One of the accomplishment that has been personally very gratifying as the Executive Director is the effort to formalize the governance structure and the authority of the, governing board. I have been able to facilitate an unprecedented level of cooperation and communication by and among criminal justice agencies in the State of Connecticut. All of our accomplishments have been detailed in our semi annual report provided 'to the general assembly. Copies of the report can also be downloaded from our website at av= 46657 I In addition, we evaluated technologies to help us implement the CISS information sharing project and have completed the necessary steps to prepare us to release the CISS Request for Proposals (RF P). In short, over the last year we have made tremendous progress towards meeting the spirit of PA 08-01 in terms of improving criminal justice information?sharing throughout the state of Connecticut. - Page 1 of6_ I would like to share with you some of the speci?cs of the CISS project in order to describe what has been accomplished to date and where the project is positioned today. The ?rst major task was to complete an As-Is assessment of the CJ IS business and technology environments. This evaluation found that the state?s current criminal justice community is widely diverse, consisting of 11 justice agencies with over 23,000 staff members that utilize 52 information systems to support their business needs. The business operations of these agencies are highly dependent on the exchange of information between their justice and public safety partners. However, current justice information?sharing efforts are predominantly manual and, as a result, of?cers and staff wait long periods to receive important information (if noti?cation occurs at all) and'processes require redundant data entry by multiple agencies. In addition, the overall technOlogy environment is in marginal shape with agencies dependent on old, poorly documented informatiOn technology (IT) systems that require constant and continuous support. The next major task in the CISS project was to construct a concept of operation for the future CISS environment. This To-B'e-Logical model identi?ed the integration needs, goals, and objectives of the various justice agencies for CISS and the business and technical characteristics of the CISS solution that would be required to achieve those goals. A comparison of the As-Is and To-Be Logical Models revealed several critical gaps in terms of current data sharing capabilities. There is a wide variance between the current CJ IS environment and the desired CISS environment in terms of agency business processes, information-sharing tools, technology capabilities, and application I ?Jnctionality. CISS will allow for considerable improvements in agency systems and business operations, which in turn will deliver better functionality than OBTS offers, and will expand the availability of criminal justice information throughout the state. One of the key tenets of the CISS solution is a mandate to follow key national technology standards, such as the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), Justice Reference Architecture (JRA) and Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GF 1PM). These standards will enhance CJ IS community?s ability to cost-effectively connect and secure each link in the justice process for maximum bene?t. The CJIS Governing Board also convened a Savings Validation Committee to work with MTG Management Consultants, our external consultant for this effort, to evaluate the bene?ts of CISS. The quanti?able bene?ts can be estimated by the value derived from the automated exchange of data between systems and increased access to justice information by those who need it. - Based on conservative estimates by CJ IS agency personnel, evaluation found that the estimated bene?ts of CISS, expressed in total dollar value of time savings, is approximately $59 MM over a ?ve year period. These are bene?ts that would accrue directly from the implementation of CISS by reducing manual data-entry, material and Page 2 of6 transportation costs, and time spent by agency personnel manually processing. documents and collecting information. Much of the bene?t is realized by municipal law enforcement agencies across the state.- One of the outcomes from the analysis work is a clearly de?ned framework to measure the impact of each information improvement implemented with the CISS solution. It is part of the CISS plan to implement performance measures that will provide key indicators on the health of the justice processes. In addition to the bene?ts, MTG also estimated the annual capital cost requirements for hardware, software, development, and consulting services for the CISS solution. Detailed Year 1 costs are estimated at $1.4 MM for hardware, $5.1 MM for software, and $1.5 MM for services. Total Year .1 costs are $8 MM. Detailed Year 2 costs are estimated-at $900,000 for hardware, $3.5 MM for software, and $1.6 M4 for services. Total Year 2 costs are $6 MM. Detailed Year 3 costs are estimated at $3.0 MM for software, and $1.0 MM for services. Total Year 3 costs are $4 MM. Detailed Year 4 costs are estimated at $700,000 for software, and $800,000 for services. Total Year 4 costs are $1.5 MM. Year 5 costs are $500,000 for services (please see Exhibit I for the detailed budget). Including the $700,000 for the CISS in FY 2010 from current operational funds, the total capital costs for the 5 year implementation period are $20.7 MM. It is clear that'the CISS program will require signi?cant ?nancial investment. However, a comparison between CISS costs and bene?ts found that, cumulatively, the bene?ts of the solution begin to exceed costs in less than 3 years. Over the 5-year horizon, the -proj ect has a return on investment of 185 percent. After the_5-year period CISS will provide $18 MM in bene?ts annually compared to $3.7 MM in. operational costs. Besides the ?nancial bene?ts CISS also will provide intangible bene?ts, although not quanti?able, will provide tremendous value to system users and the broader criminal I justice community. These bene?ts include: Improved public and of?cer safety. Increased process ef?ciency and effectiveness. Improved justice decisions based on accurate, complete, and timely information. Increased throughput and velocityof information. Better management and policy decisions based on improved information. Improved noti?cation services. Page 3 of 6 7. Improved collaboration and coOperation between agencies. 8. Optimized use of technology. In 9. Increased standardization and quality of data. 10. Enhanced ability to solve crimes. - 11. Increased capacity of the justice and public safety system to handle incidents and cases. 12. Improved public con?dence. In short, CISS will provide access to better information, resulting in enhanced decisions that ultimately will save law enforcement and citizen lives and enhance the quality of life of Connecticut?s residents. Currently, the CISS project just ?nalized the requirements for CISS that allow the state to close the gaps identified earlier in the project. These requirements have been incorporated into the CISS RF 'which is nearly complete and ready for release. Pursuant to PA 09-02 of September special session $8 million of bond funding was authorized for CISS which can be requested staring July 2010. Sec. 42. (Bf/fictive Inly 1, 2010) The proceeds of the sale of the bonds described in sections 41 to 47, inclusive, Of this act, to the extent hereinafter stated, shall be used for the purpose of acquiring, by purchase or condemnation, undertaking, constructing, reconstructing, improving or equipping, or purchasing land or buildings or improving sites for the projects hereinafter described, including payment Of architectural, engineering, demolition or related costs in connection therewith, or of payment of the cost of long-range capital programming and space utilization studies as hereinafter stated: - For the Office of Policy and Management: (1) Design and implementation of the Criminal Justice Information'System, not exceeding 8,000,000; The CISS project is at a critical juncture and we are eager to release the RFP and procure a solution that provides for efficient and effective information-sharing in our state. To this end, I will be making a request to the CJIS- Governing Board and 0PM in the next three months to have the bond dollars appropriated, so that the project can move forward and the momentum we have developed will continue. If not, the consequences of delay and/or inaction are signi?cant, including: 1. Inability to meet the Public Act 08-01 mandate. 2. Increased potential for making public safety mistakes. Page 4 of 6 3. Continued suboptimal use of resources. 4. Continued justice process inef?ciencies. 5. Increased technology costs. The bottom line is it will cost Connecticut a signi?cant amount of money to delay action on the C188 project, and inaction may further erode public con?dence in the justice system. While many of us would like to believe tragic events rarely happen, the truth is' events like Cheshire occur across the country every year. Just last month 4 law enforcement of?cers were ruthlessly killed in Lakewood, Washington, by an individual facing a three strikes conviction who inappropriately was released on bail. _We have a complex justice system that faces a volume of activity it cannot handle and mistakes will be made. The sooner we act to acquire and implement CISS, the sooner the problems with the current environment can be alleviated and the bene?ts of the C138 solution can be realized. Currently 0PM has loaned one person to assist me with business issues. DOIT is assisting via CJ IS Support Group with OBTS and CIDRIS initiatives. The personnel assigned are accountable to their respective agencies not CJIS Governing Board. Although I am the Executive Director, I have no managerial authority over any personnel charged with implementing the C188 system together with CIDRIS and OBTS. It is . impossible for me as Executive director to be accountable to the CJIS Governing Board or the General Assembly, if no one is accountable to me. People who are charged with implementing the C188 cannot be accountable to two masters. Ideally, as Executive Director, all of the personnel responsible for the design, development and implementation of a comprehensive, integrated criminal information sharing system in the State of Connecticut should be under the direct supervision of and accountable to the Executive Director that?s good business and good government! Therefore, in order to prOceed with the C138 procurement and ful?ll the vision of information-sharing in Connecticut, I respectfully recommend the following actions. I will be presenting these recommendations to the CJIS Governing Board on January 2010 meeting. 1. Language in PA 074 SS, Sec. 36 should specify that the CJIS Governing Board (rather than DOIT) will receive, at a minimum, $1.3 MM in revenue for the CJIS initiatives. 2. CJIS Support Staff (CSG), currently part of DOIT, along with other needed staff (please see Exhibit for the detailed staf?ng plan) and resources should report directly to the CJ IS Governing Board?s Executive Director. 3. The CJIS Governing Board should work with DOIT to establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the services requested. The CJIS Governing Board must have the ability to compare the cost estimated by DOIT with that of outside ?rms and determine where to procure the services. The items for SLA would include Page 5 of 6 service availability, disaster recovery, quarterly resource planned activities that are reconciled on a weekly basisGoverning Board should have the ability to set standards that are speci?c to the CJIS community?s needs. 5. The Judiciary Committee should endorse the bond funding strategy to cover the capital costs of the CISS program. I 6. The Judiciary Committee should consider recommending approval of operational costs for the 5-year horizon. The timing for this project is critical, and several key elements for success are currently aligned. Governance for the CISS solution is strong, community cooperation is very high, and there is widespread commitment to completing the data sharing initiative speci?ed in PA 08-01. We are well positioned to move forward with the procurement of the CISS solution. This is an investment that is essential to prevent the atrophy of capabilities that continues to occur in our criminal justice system and prevent future tragedies like the Cheshire slayings and other recent events. I would like to sincerely thank the committee for allowing me this opportunity to present my testimony. I am happy to answer any questions. Page 6 of6