Dennis Goulet, commissioner of the Department of Information Technology (DOIT), told the Senate Budget Committee that a $5 million back‑of‑budget reduction the House proposed would be particularly damaging if it is restricted to the central shared‑services budget.

Goulet said the state’s centralized IT model yields volume pricing and shared contracts, but the sector’s shift to subscription software, persistent vendor price increases and shorter product lifecycles have created steady operating pressures. He described a prior hiring‑freeze adjustment that left about 40 unfunded positions in the governor’s phase and said the House language that would force the $5 million cut from only the shared budget would amount to a much deeper staffing reduction in the shared service unit — potentially 20–30% of that group — and could result in layoffs.

Goulet warned of operational impacts: reduced overtime and on‑call pay would slow response times to outages; fewer shared‑service staff would lengthen project lead times; and the state could lose the capacity to perform critical weekend and after‑hours maintenance on systems that agencies rely upon. He asked the Senate to either remove the $5 million cut or change the language to allow DOIT to allocate reductions in a way that minimizes risk to state operations.

On other items, DOIT said it had leveraged ARPA funds to modernize infrastructure and had implemented an ERP go‑live for HR and financials in December, which will help administrative efficiencies across the system. The department also sought statutory language confirming a chief privacy officer authorization and language allowing strategic refilling of unfunded positions without exceeding total salaries and benefits appropriations; DOIT argued this flexibility helps prioritize critical roles when budgets are constrained.

Ending: Goulet asked the committee to preserve the department’s capacity to support shared systems and to consider language that permits the department to determine which positions or line items best absorb any required reductions.