Vermont Auditor of Accounts Doug Hoffer At any moment in time, the Agency of Digital Service’s (ADS) Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) is overseeing dozens of large State IT projects. As of today, they are managing 49 projects ranging in expected cost from a few hundred thousand dollars to as much as $63.5 million.
Our 2023 audit found that the IT projects we reviewed that are managed by EPMO were coming in late or over budget or both. We made a series of recommendations to ADS to help them keep their projects on time and on budget, and to be more transparent to policymakers and Vermonters about the status of the projects. ADS expressed their intent to implement some of those recommendations but, disappointingly, told us they would not implement others because the Legislature hadn’t explicitly required them to do so.
As a result, we encouraged the Legislature to pass legislation directing ADS to be more transparent and accountable in the ways described in our audit. We’re pleased to report that Act 48, which has been signed into law by the Governor, reflects that advocacy. The bill includes new requirements for ADS to more accurately present the status of the projects under their purview.
Few Vermonters are IT experts, but we’re all taxpayers. We deserve to have accurate and timely information about large IT projects so we can hold elected officials and State agencies accountable. Act 48 was not as comprehensive as we may have wished, but it is a very good start. The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure and Senate Institutions Committees are to be commended for taking this oversight work seriously.
6.27.2025.
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