(Albany, NY) – Today, the New York State Senate passed fiscally prudent legislation that will keep Information Technology (IT) jobs in-house rather than outsourcing, creating significant budgetary savings. By providing the necessary training and in-sourcing the state’s IT workforce, New York State ensures employees greater job security while increasing their skill set.
The potential cost savings from this bill is approximately $70 million per fiscal year if 500 consultant positions are replaced with state employees. This estimate is based on the total hours of consultant work that can be replaced by state employees under the bill and it is anticipated that as training provided to the current workforce under the bill increases that the savings will increase as more consultants are replaced.
The legislation will decrease the number of consultants used by allowing the State to hire people on a temporary basis, without an examination. Individuals hired for these positions will be able, after two years of continuous service, to compete for permanent civil service positions along with other qualified public employees.
"Relying on private consultants to do work that state employees can and should be doing, costs New York billions of dollars in revenue. State IT workers, for example, earn an average of $55 an hour, including benefits, while a consultant charges $128 an hour. This legislation, which will allow us to shift up to 500 state IT jobs, back to our public servants, will save us real taxpayer dollars," said Senator Diane J. Savino, sponsor of the bill and Chair of the Civil Service and Pensions Committee.
“This legislation will help keep IT jobs in-house -- instead of farming them out to contractors -- and will maximize the information technology talents and experience of our existing workers for the benefit of our entire state,” said Senator George Onorato, the chairman of the Senate Labor Committee. “In-sourcing IT jobs is a smart thing to do, both for the finances of our state and for New York State’s workforce as a whole.”
"The information technology (IT) consultant reduction bill is a recognition by the Governor and the Legislature that significant cost savings can be achieved by eliminating the wasteful use of consultants. For years PEF has made the case that our members provide better value for the taxpayers of the state, especially in the area of information technology; this bill puts into place a framework for achieving those savings by transitioning IT work from the consultants to public employees,” said Kenneth Brynien, President of the Public Employees Federation (PEF).
The Process and Terms for Appointments are as follows:
· 15 days prior to the appointment, the appointing authority will conspicuously post in its offices information about the temporary position and its required qualifications to allow qualified employees to apply for the position,
· If a temporary appointment is to be made, the appointing authority must identify for the department why the temporary assignment is necessary,
· The appointment would not be for more than 5 years (60 months),
· No more than 500 individuals could be employed,
· The temporary positions may be abolished due to the following reasons:
o economic;
o consolidation or abolition of function; or
o if termination is due to a reduction of workforce, then the temporary positions would be abolished prior to the permanent competitive class IT positions.
Every six months, an estimated cost savings achieved by the state will be calculated and reported to the legislature by the Director of the Budget as well as how many outside contractors have been replaced by in-sourcing.
