Virginia invites tech innovation by keeping its door open

If there’s a more effective or cost-efficient way to do something that no one had thought of before, states want to hear about it. To make sure Virginia’s not missing out on any of those innovations, state Chief Information Officer Nelson Moe says the state has a couple tools.

The first, Moe told StateScoop in a video interview, is by adding an innovation “injection point” to the state’s procurement process.

“The contract vehicles are set up so that the suppliers are incentivized to add new services, innovation,” Moe says.

In addition, he says, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency has an innovation program, run by Tony Wood, the agency’s head of innovation.

“That allows for proofs of concepts, discussions and demonstrations to look at stuff even before we’re anywhere near a contract vehicle,” Moe says. “So it allows suppliers to come in and show a value proposition and try to get any buzz or interest on it and we’ll take it to the next step if we want to.”

Moe on his top priorities:

Moe on cloud computing:

Moe on cybersecurity:

These videos were produced by StateScoop at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in May 2019.