MRSC Inquiries
Information Technology
Contents:
General
- Request for sample Year 2000 vendor contract language.
The caller requested contract language requiring that a new computer-aided dispatch system be Year 2000 compliant. We obtained the following language from the Washington State Department of Information Services Web site:
Year 2000 Compliance Warranty (required term) Vendor warrants fault free performance in the processing of date and date related data including, but not limited to calculating, comparing, and sequencing by all Equipment and Software provided pursuant to this Contract, individually and in combination, when used in accordance with the product documentation provided by the Vendor. Fault free performance shall include the manipulation of this data when dates are in the 20th or 21st centuries and shall be transparent to the user. Failure to comply with these Year 2000 requirements shall entitle Purchaser to a refund of [(three (3) times the total purchase cost as liquidated damages) OR (the initial license fee, prorated over the useful life of the Equipment, defined by the parties as _____ (__) years)]. Vendor has no liability for any failure to comply with this provision that is caused solely by failure of an interconnected third-party product to be Year 2000 compliant.
[Department of Information Services Note]: Hardware, firmware, and software must be Year 2000 Compliant by different dates depending upon the specific application involved. If the goods being procured under the contract involve calculations of future dates (e.g., give entitlement to client for five (5) years from date) it is necessary that all products involved in processing be Year 2000 compliant immediately. However, if there are no date calculations involved, the agency may wish to include a provision above which states that the products must be compliant by a specified date in the future.
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Request for sample information technology strategic plans.
Here are links to several information technology strategic plans from Washington and out-of-state jurisdictions:
- City of Bellevue, Enterprise Strategic IT Plan and Program Update, 2005-06
- Information Technology Strategic
Plan, Kitsap County, 2001 (
555
KB ) - Washington State Department of Information Services Strategic Plan and Operating Budget, 2003-2005
- City
of Watsonville (CA), Information Technology Master Plan, 2002
(1.96
MB)
- City
of Boulder (CO), Strategic Technology Plan, 2002 (236
KB)
- City
of Mesa (AZ), Information Technology Strategic Plan, 2002 (292
KB)
- City
of Des Moines (IA) Strategic Technology Plan, 2002 (143
KB)
In addition, the following sample plans are available for loan from our library:
- Information Technology Strategic Plan and Governance Process, City of Bellevue, 1998
- City of Kennewick Information Systems Plan, 1998
- Information Management Plan for the Town of Friday Harbor, 1997
- Strategic Information Technology Plan, City of Kirkland, 2001
- Information Technology Strategic Plan, Kitsap County, 2001
E-Government
- May a county or city use a digital signature to transmit official records?
Yes, however they must follow the procedures set forth in the state statutes.
RCW 19.34.010(4) provides that electronic signatures may be used for "official public business to provide reasonable assurance of the integrity, authenticity, and nonrepudiation of an electronic communication." RCW 19.34.231 authorizes a city or county to become a licensed certification authority for purposes of providing services to local government. The local government agency must adopt an ordinance authorizing the use of digital signatures.
The procedures to obtain certification are outlined in Ch. 19.34 RCW. Note that the statute provides that a "private key" (used to create a digital signature) in the possession of a local government agency is exempt from public inspection and copying. See RCW 19.34.240.