(a) The Director shall develop a Comprehensive Technology Strategy for the Government of the Virgin Islands which shall be not less than five (5) years in duration and updated biennially, which includes programming and policies to support and promote the use of innovative information technologies within the territorial government as a means of saving money, increasing worker productivity, improving governmental services to the public, and demonstrating effective management tools The Director shall recommend to the Governor and the Legislature changes needed in the Territory’s policies to accomplish the purpose of this Section.
(b) The Strategy shall include:
(1) The development and maintenance of territorial data centers, including the optimum size and degree of centralization of the data centers; information management personnel, including the training and qualification of such personnel; office automation, including the use of personal computing and electronic mail; data communications systems; and technical application architecture;
(2) The Strategy shall:
(A) address the findings and recommendations contained in each governmental agency and department’s automation analysis report;
(B) provide for an effective planning, budgeting, and management control system for coordinated development and utilization of information technology in the Government of the Virgin Islands;
(C) summarize the specific plans and policies adopted by the Bureau for each of the areas of functional responsibility; and
(D) report on major information technology initiatives.
(c) The plan shall provide for the design and development of new and existing data centers, and for networking between all territorial agencies in order to enable these agencies to communicate with each other, share data where appropriate, and maximize public access to this network. The Director shall solicit input from all territorial agencies, departments, independent instrumentalities, public users, and any other entities determined by the Director to be necessary, and shall consult with the University of the Virgin Islands, the Legislature, and the judicial branch of the Virgin Islands to coordinate the executive branch master plan with the technology plan for the University, the Legislature and the judicial branch, if such a plan is developed. The plan shall include the following:
(1) A method where the public may access from a personal computer, public records contained on a territorial agency, department or independent instrumentality’s network;
(2) A proposal to develop a multi-use Internet portal provides public access to all governmental services to promote greater efficiency by governmental agencies in serving the public.
(3) A policy establishing the parameters for requiring territorial agencies, departments and independent instrumentalities to use software with interactive capability that allows public access to public records without the disclosure of confidential information. For the purposes of this paragraph, “interactive” means the electronic removal of data from an electronic file;
(4) An identification of the activities that need to be undertaken to implement the plan with a corresponding time schedule, cost analysis, and person at the affected agency, department or independent instrumentality responsible for implementation of these activities;
(5) A territorial policy to be promulgated by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to Title 3, chapter 35, of this Code, regarding the release of territorial agency, department or independent instrumentality data retained electronically, in accordance with all provisions of law providing for confidentiality of collected information including, by not limited to the Title 3, Section 881 et seq., of this Code;
(6) An identification of short, medium, and long range goals based on the principal policies and goals developed in the master planning process.
(d) Upon request, the plan shall be made available to any person or territorial agency, department or independent instrumentality. This information shall be made available in an electronic format in addition to any other format chosen by the Bureau of Information Technology to make this information available.
(e) The Director shall create an inventory list of all computer hardware and software, as defined by the Director, retained by each territorial agency, department or independent instrumentality and the purposes for which the hardware or software is used. This list shall be available upon request to any person or territorial agency, department or independent instrumentality.