Survey: IT high on wish list for new money

State and local homeland security and public safety senior executives are putting technology systems high on their wish list for spending new federal money, according to a new survey by the Civic US advisory firm.

Eighty percent of the respondents said they want to spend the m oeny they get from the economic stimulus law on technology, Civic US said April 21 in a press release. The company, based in Rockville, Md., surveyed 47 senior executives in homeland security and public safety.

In addition, 80 percent said they would add new staff positions or retain existing positions, and 35 percent said they would pursue mutual aid initiatives.

When asked which information technology areas would provide the greatest economic return, 42 percent named law enforcement information systems, 21 percent said data analytics, 11 percent cited intelligent video, 5 percent said consolidated dispatch systems and 21 percent named other systems, the company said.

The company also interviewed 35 state and local senior executives involved in energy and environmental projects, for a total of 82 executives.

When the entire group was asked if they would look favorably on vendors who offered performance measures as part of their solution, 44 percent said yes. Some executives said they would pay a premium for those performance measures: 38 percent said they would pay 2 percent more, and 31 percent said they would pay 5 percent more.

For systems purchased with federal money, more than 60 percent said they would expect to pay the equivalent of 25 percent of the purchase cost in internal implementation costs, and the equivalent of 10 percent of the purchase cost in training expenses.