Missouri puts major computer contract out for bid | Politics

Steward, who is chairman of the company, also dropped the lobbying firm in his personal capacity.

In October, Parson axed Sarah Steelman, who had served as commissioner of the Office of Administration since 2017. The commissioner is in charge of IT services for 14 state agencies.

Ken Zellers, the former director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, is now serving as OA commissioner.

Also in October, Missouri’s chief information security officer, Stephen Meyer, left for a job at World Wide Technology.

Meyer, who was appointed to be the state’s technology czar in 2018, had been with the state for more than two decades.

In his position, Meyer oversaw daily operations, including incident response planning, metrics, cloud security, professional development, security policy and procedures, and vendor negotiations.

A spokeswoman for World Wide Technology did not respond to questions about whether it will be bidding for the state work this time around or whether Meyer will be involved in the process.

The new contract comes as the state faces a number of challenges in its information technology programs, ranging from cybersecurity concerns to a need for major upgrades to its computer systems. In some cases, the state is using computer language written 50 years ago, causing concern that the only employees who are familiar with it are nearing retirement age.