Delaware’s IT Department Is In Crisis–And No One Is Holding Them Accountable
Guest Post From An Anonymous IT Insider:
Technology is more critical than ever in shaping government services. But what is Delaware’s state technology agency, DTI, doing?
Unlike Delaware, states like Maryland, Washington, Vermont, and California use public-facing dashboards to track IT project performance and spending, ensuring transparency and accountability. Meanwhile, Delaware’s DTI operates behind closed doors. Even flagship initiatives like the GoDE Centralized Government Services Access Portal and the Delaware Broadband Initiative appear to have been pushed onto DTI by previous administrations or federal mandates, raising concerns about whether the agency has any proactive strategy for innovation.
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A State-Mandated IT Monopoly That Rewards Inefficiency
Delaware law grants DTI a monopoly over IT services for all state agencies (Title 29, Chapter 90C), forcing agencies to rely solely on DTI, regardless of quality, price, or efficiency. Unlike private-sector tech firms that must compete to innovate, DTI has no competition, leading to outdated solutions that hurt taxpayers and state agencies alike.
State school systems frequently experience decreased internet bandwidth, harming student learning, while agencies report slow, unreliable systems that frustrate both staff and the public. Yet, agencies have no alternatives—they must accept whatever DTI provides, no matter how poor the service.
Delaware has no such accountability mechanism, leaving DTI’s failures hidden from public scrutiny.
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Forcing Some Agencies to Pay for Services They Never Agreed To
One of the most glaring examples of DTI’s mismanagement is the 2024 SEUS (Secure End User Services) cost recovery initiative, which blindsided state agencies with retroactive contracts. Agencies were billed for services they never explicitly agreed to, with pricing so inaccurate that even Legislative Hall refused to sign.
When agencies resisted, DTI leadership ordered aggressive follow-ups, pressuring them for months. Many 2024 contracts remain unsigned, eroding trust in DTI’s leadership.
This isn’t just poor management—it’s a misuse of taxpayer funds and a breach of trust.
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Deeper Than Inefficiency: A Culture of Cronyism, Retaliation & Employee Mismanagement
DTI’s issues go beyond inefficiency. The department fosters a toxic culture that prioritizes insider connections over competence and punishes those who advocate for agencies.
• A director-level position was recently filled without being posted publicly, going to the wife of DTI’s Chief Operating Officer (COO).
• Another senior leadership role was handed to someone with less than a year in a prior DTI position, bypassing any competitive hiring process.
• The Office of Partner Services, created by a former CIO, saw his brother-in-law appointed as Chief while the division churned through three directors and multiple managers in just five years.
One long-time DTI employee with 30 years of institutional knowledge returned from PTO expecting to handle urgent agency requests—only to be ordered to work on an internal PowerPoint presentation for a leadership retreat six weeks away. When the employee pushed back, asking to prioritize customer needs over an internal project, they were severely reprimanded. Within a week, they retired rather than endure further retaliation for putting Delaware’s agencies first.
DTI should serve agencies and citizens, but instead, it prioritizes politics over service. Instead, it has become an organization that rewards political loyalty and discourages innovation.
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Why This Matters Now—JFC Hearings Begin February 13th
The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is Delaware’s most powerful legislative budget committee, responsible for reviewing and approving funding for all state agencies. With JFC hearings beginning on February 13th, lawmakers have a rare opportunity to demand accountability from DTI.
JFC must demand answers about why agencies were forced into retroactive contracts, why alternatives to DTI’s inefficiencies don’t exist, and why insider hiring remains unchecked.
• Why DTI forced agencies into retroactive IT contracts with inflated pricing.
• Why state agencies have no alternatives to DTI’s inefficient services.
• Why cronyism and insider hiring remain unaddressed.
If Delaware’s new progressive governor, Matt Meyer, is serious about reforming state government, DTI should be the first agency to undergo a deep review. Gov. Meyer has pledged to bring transparency and accountability to state operations. That effort must start with Delaware’s IT department, which interacts with every other agency and directly impacts the quality of public services.
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Delaware’s IT Future Depends on Action Now
DTI isn’t just another state agency—it’s the backbone of how Delaware runs its government. Yet instead of leading innovation, DTI has become an unaccountable bureaucracy that hinders progress.
If Delaware wants to be a leader in technology and digital government, we need to fix DTI first.
I recently mailed a physical letter to each member of the Delaware General Assembly, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, the Governor’s Office, and the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources outlining the issues described in this op-ed along with specific oversight recommendations. I am writing this publicly to ensure that legislators—many of whom have connections to DTI leadership—are held accountable for addressing these problems instead of ignoring them.
The time for silence is over.
An Anonymous DTI Insider
While this was written by one person, there indeed is a DTI Employee Advocacy Coalition, so this piece reflects the thoughts of more employees than just the person who wrote the piece.
Matt Meyer, take note.
I worked with DTI as a contractor on a short-term project many years ago, and the “toxic culture” charge rings true. It’s not just DTI though; many state agencies are snakepits of office politics and cliques, with many employees just trying to keep a low profile until retirement.
That said, as much as a DTI monopoly on tech is a problem, it is also a problem for agencies to have a multitude of incompatible tech. A multi-agency organization needs some top-down tech oversight, but hopefully more benign than DTI.
Great work ahead of an ethics initiative! Hoping for real oversight and progress!
I thought this was a real persuasive piece of writing. Lots of people have read it. Hope they were the right people.
If you think this is bad, consider how bad the Fleet Services is. They force you to rent a vehicle (one state agency to another)
Whoever wrote this, thank you!
We need more people talking about what really goes on inside state government.
Now somebody do the Department of Labor!
Agreed. Information like this needs to get out. All we need now is an Inspector General to do a deep dive on stuff like this.
Interesting that the office of Chief Technology Officer is currently vacant: https://dti.delaware.gov/about-dti/offices/office-chief-technology-officer/
In most orgs the CTO spot is the top dog in IT and sets the vision. But DTI has so many chiefs, the CTO is just one of many and I’d imagine doesn’t have much power to implement a vision even if they should want to.
It turns out the Chief Information Officer (not CTO) is top dog at DTI. Meyer reappointed the Carney holdover.
That same person also is currently serving as the Cabinet-level CIO for all of Delaware, and is nominated by Meyer to continue that position.
Interestingly enough, rumor has it that the current CIO kept the CTO position open which he vacated when he became the interim CIO) just in case he wasn’t reappointed, in hopes of falling back into that role).
Fleet Services rental rates are much lower than the open market. They are also able to reserve vehicles and station at Agencies for convenience.
Everything that was posted above is true. DTI had two different cabinet secretary who promoted their brother in laws into higher positions. They also hired a senior leaderships spouse into a higher position. ITC was a joke they pretty much lied to the agency about promoting merit employees while DTI only created new titles and positions for their own. Their policies and procedures are inconsistent, and they are quick to pass the blame onto an agency or vendor. It’s sad to say but a lot of them need to go. They are used to this behavior while working from home and underperforming. Many of the employees at DTI are unhappy. I could list so many other things that happen at DTI.
It’s unfortunate that mainstream media outlets seem reluctant to cover what’s happening within DTI. Why is it that, despite two blog articles, multiple Reddit discussions, and even a mention of Delaware Liberal’s post during the JFC hearings, no further media coverage has surfaced about the letter sent to the Legislature or the concerns raised during those hearings? Why hasn’t there been more coverage on Delaware Liberal itself? I’ve even seen additional Reddit posts—some of which, rumor has it, were submitted to Delaware Liberal but never published.
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it’s hard not to wonder if avoiding coverage is a way to avoid making the new Governor look bad—especially since he reappointed the current CIO.
Frankly, this makes me question whether DTI was ever a real priority for Governor Meyer. If it had been, as we’ve seen with agencies like the Department of Education or DNREC, a serious review of DTI’s operations would have uncovered plenty of concerns. The failures outlined in this article, along with the letter sent to the Legislature, should have at least led to tougher scrutiny of the CIO before his reappointment. The lack of meaningful oversight raises some serious questions.
“Why hasn’t there been more coverage on Delaware Liberal itself?”
Because it’s of limited interest to anyone outside your field, and nobody pays me to do this.
As if there aren’t other esoteric matters covered ad nauseam on Delaware Liberal, drawing even less foot traffic, might I add. I’m not one for citing numbers just for the sake of it, but since El Sonámbulo brought up analytics in the DL Open Thread on January 30, it’s worth noting that the first DTI-related post generated significant attention. If this were weeks later and the article submissions or comments had dwindled into niche rants, I would understand ignoring them. But let’s be real—the content covered in the DTI articles and DL itself was mentioned by name during the JFC Hearings when Delaware’s CIO was questioned by a legislator. I wonder if someone from DTI has reached out to DL and that’s why they’re silent… hmm?
Hundreds of DTI employees now regularly check DL, some of whom have even started leaving comments. Not because they’re looking for sensationalism, but because—at least initially—this platform sounded the alarm in a way that other outlets wouldn’t.
To be clear, I know that other articles have been submitted. The DTI Employee Advocacy Coalition (DEAC) includes members with a range of writing styles—some more measured, some more forceful—but all are engaged in shining a light on these issues. At least one more JFC-related article was sent to Delaware Liberal and was not published.
I guess DL would like to focus more of its efforts on blasting Donald Trump (not necessarily a bad thing) and sexier stories with more of a long term bite. I’m not here to tell someone how to run their blog that they’ve worked really hard to establish and maintain, but it’s unfortunate that State employees’ grievances have one less media outlet to rely on and state tax payers have one less media outlet that will give them an insiders perspective.
Don’t be disingenuous. You certainly are telling us how to run the blog. Here’s an idea: You could always start a blog. Or do this on FB or other social media.
If someone writes something libelous, guess who gets sued? And I don’t know enough about any of the people or issues involved to ensure avoidance of liability. So I don’t know if the allegations some people make are true or not. So I’m not publishing them.
So I suggest you start a blog and post their complaints, so if anybody gets sued it’s you.
Buh-bye, asshole.
Like a blog without advertising benefits from foot traffic.
I wasn’t involved in the original post, or that’s what would have happened.
Meanwhile, fuck off.
And now your paranoid asshole behavior has gotten you blacklisted.
I don’t give a fuck about your complaints about being underfunded or poorly managed. What makes you think you’re special in that regard? And I really don’t care for your attitude that we owe your something. Fuck off. Start your own blog, motherfucker. Pay your own fucking freight.
Believe it or not, DL doesn’t publish everything that flies in over the transom. The DTI topic has probably reached saturation for the time being. I’m sure DL will publish more DTI news when there is any. If you have something to contribute you can always leave a comment.
Seriously, are the IT folks pissed off that we’re not giving them ENOUGH coverage??
Where the fuck else have they gotten ANY coverage?
Is this mic on? There are two articles devoted to this topic–each written by IT insiders.
The comments sections exist to expand discussion of the situation. Nobody is stopping anybody from doing just that.
I think the topic has gotten, and continues to get, adequate coverage here. And, no, we’re not shutting down the comments section.
So, comment. Bring new information and/or opinion. But going after the people who amplified the issue seems–unwise.
I’m disinterested, mainly, because I’ve been around long enough to know you could substitute just about any office anywhere, public or private, and most of the non-technical complaints would be pretty much the same. Nepotism in Dover is as old as the Green.
But I can get interested real fast when people start insulting me, and not in the way you’d like to see. Don’t they have Facebook pages for stuff like this, so you can reach each other directly?
Hey, I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it’s unfortunate to see what started as a productive exchange—one that led to the agency being questioned by the legislature—spiral into profanity and the need to blacklist commenters. I’d like to keep this short and respectful to avoid my comment being deleted. It seems that Delaware Liberal did their part in giving DTI workers a voice, but somewhere along the way, someone became upset about not being able to contribute more to the conversation. Perhaps the DL should have fact-checked the original article, as it now seems disingenuous to claim concerns about liability and journalistic integrity. To each their own. I’m sure this will sadly get plenty of attention on Reddit.
For the record, I’m not on Reddit and haven’t seen any of the discussion there.
Reddit seems like a better place for all of this.
This has nothing to do with pretending to be journalists. I cited legal liability. That applies whether it’s journalism or not. Don’t tell me my business.
I don’t react when someone disagrees. I react when someone accuses me of having motives when I have none. Zero. I don’t give a flying fuck about any of this. None of you has to be here. If you don’t like how it’s run, and you don’t like the language, just move on.
Another day of this whining and the entire subject will be purged from the archives.
Hi Alby,
I just want to take a moment to say that, as someone who actually works for DTI and agrees with much of what has been said about our workplace conditions, I truly appreciate both you and Delaware Liberal for publishing these op-eds. This has been a huge moment for those of us who have been struggling to get these issues heard, and it’s not lost on me—or many others—how important your role in this has been.
Please, please don’t let a few disgruntled loudmouths make you feel unappreciated or like this wasn’t worth it. What you and Delaware Liberal did was momentous—you gave us a voice in a way that we could never have done on our own. These op-eds made it to the legislators. That’s no small thing. That’s real impact.
I beg you—please don’t delete the archive post. If you do, that means the only real public record of this happening disappears. For many of us inside DTI, this is the only documentation of what we’ve endured. The only proof that these conversations ever happened outside of whispered side chats and buried emails.
I get that this has turned into a ridiculous mess in the comments, but please know that there are plenty of us who are deeply grateful for what you’ve done here. I just wanted to make sure you heard that. Loud and clear.
Here’s the deal: We’ll publish what we publish. It’s not an open forum, it’s moderated, often heavily.
What will get a commenter banned right quick is insulting us.
I honestly can’t take sides in this because I have no way of weighing any of these accusations, and as I’ve repeatedly said, a lot of it strikes me as the kind of griping you hear in any poorly managed operation, which is most I’ve come in contact with.
Some jagoff telling me that there’s some dark conspiracy of silencing people demonstrates a level of paranoia and probably projection that I have no intention of supporting.
Tl;dr: I don’t know enough or care enough to take sides here, and accusing us of it will get you shitcanned.