The Bureau of Finance and Management briefed the Joint Appropriations Committee on its proposed budget, a multiyear enterprise resource planning rollout (Project Bison) and a push to strengthen statewide internal controls.

Project Bison and timeline: Commissioner Jim Twiliger told lawmakers the state awarded contracts for an Oracle Cloud ERP implementation and a system integrator (Sierra Cedar) and that the program's planned go‑live date is July 1, 2026. Colin Keeler, BFM's financial systems director, said the project is subscription‑based "software as a service" and described it as Oracle Cloud Fusion: "It is their most modern ERP system, on the market. It is software as a service based so it's a subscription based thing that we pay a yearly fee for," Keeler said. Keeler said the overall implementation period is 24 months, with conference room pilot testing already underway and system integration testing slated to begin in January 2026, followed by user acceptance testing in February 2026.

Costs and staffing: Twiliger said the $70,000,000 program budget includes startup and several years of operational costs. The bureau requested several additional financial‑systems and internal‑control FTEs (the presentation described two FTEs for financial systems and two FTEs for statewide internal control consulting and operations, for a total of four), plus modest other‑fund expenditure authority to cover increased vendor maintenance, internal‑control governance tools and implementation support.

Internal controls initiative: Ally Cura, the statewide internal control officer, was identified as leading the state's effort to document and test controls across agencies. Twiliger said recent work has documented gaps and that the requested staff would accelerate adoption and then allow proactive testing of controls, not merely relying on agency self‑reports. The commissioner tied the request to an executive order requiring annual ethics training across the executive branch and the governor's broader "cornerstones of governmental accountability" initiative.

Why it matters: BFM described Project Bison as replacing a 36‑year‑old mainframe system and a multiagency modernization that will change accounting, payroll and human capital processes statewide. Lawmakers asked about training, support and parallel testing. Keeler said the implementation includes a train‑the‑trainer model and that quarterly vendor updates and standard support will continue after go‑live.

Questions from lawmakers: Senators and representatives asked about whether the state would run parallel payroll runs close to go‑live, where support work is located and whether the $70 million includes ongoing maintenance; Keeler and Twiliger replied the contract includes several years of operational costs and that vendor support includes U.S.‑based coverage during normal work hours with 24/7 escalation.

Next steps: The bureau said it will return for deeper briefings on Project Bison and on internal controls, and that the requested positions and software procurement are intended to reduce long‑term operational risk by modernizing systems and increasing staff experienced in the new environment.